The Picture: Part 2-The Vengeance
by CandasaurFlag
Summary: Sequel to The Picture: Part 1-The Truth. Phineas has thrown everyone a wild curve ball and gotten some serious revenge on Candace. As the Earth drops away beneath them and Isabella, they find themselves caught on different sides of an alien war... perfect fodder for Phineas and Candace's little brother/sister tiff to get blown WAY out of proportion. T for war violence.
1. Chapter 1: Phineas Makes Things Worse

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE-MAKE SURE YOU READ THIS BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

Phineas, Isabella, and Candace have just been flung into a completely new

environment. The story slows down _a lot_ at this point because a ton of

information about this new environment is being given so that everything

will make sense. The first four chapters of _The Vengeance_ are fairly

heavy on background and fairly light on action. If you have the patience,

I strongly suggest that you push forward and endure them because they

will greatly enhance the story. If, however, you _don't_ have the patience,

or you try to read them and find yourself getting too tired, then skip Chapters

1-4 and go straight to Chapter 7: A Summary of Chapters 1-4. Read that,

and then go back to Chapter 5 and just start _The Vengeance_ from there. I would

rather have you get the goods and move on than have you quit the story

altogether because you got bored. Also, if you haven't read _The Picture: Part 1-_

_The Truth_, I strongly suggest that you do before reading this. I have included a

basic outline of the events in Part 1 in this story, but you obviously will still

understand better if you actually read the previous part first.

The Picture: Part Two-The Vengeance

Chapter 1: Phineas Makes Things Worse

Phineas smiled darkly. He'd gotten everything he wanted. He'd

outsmarted them all. Nothing was worse than believing you'd won and then

having it all blow up in your face. They'd thought they'd beaten him, they'd

thought they'd won, they'd thought it was over.

They were wrong.

Now, victory was his. He could continue inventing, and better still,

he'd avenged himself tenfold.

The cargo hatch clamped shut and set Phineas and his best friend,

Isabella Garcia Shapiro, down.

"Phineas, what did you do?" Isabella asked worriedly.

"I'll explain in a minute," he assured her. He was very fond of the

girl. Phineas had once been a kind, bright, enthusiastic, creative person.

He had had no enemies. That had changed when he'd gotten busted building a

log flume in his backyard. After that everyone, one way or another, had

turned against him. Everyone except Isabella. She had sworn to him that she

would not abandon him, and, to her credit, though he had done a bunch of

rotten things to his former friends to keep his dreams alive and avenge

himself, she had kept her oath. She wouldn't condemn him, though he rightly

deserved it, and she had stuck with him through thick and thin, proving her

friendship time and again. There was nobody Phineas would rather have at his

side than Isabella.

A man stepped in front of Phineas. He was a weird looking guy. He

had shaggy yellow fur all over his body, but it wasn't like cute, fuzzy fur.

It was thick, more like a bunch of noodles, except dry and scratchy. His

three legs-wait-one was long-more like a tail-ended in what looked like toilet

plungers, but covered in his super-thick fur.

He also had no arms or head.

"Phineas..." Isabella asked confusedly, "What's that?"

Suddenly, something roundish popped out of the top of the fur. It was

blue and covered in silvery fuzz. A bunch of bright green eyes opened near

it's top, "Phineas, I see you've got your friend. The prisoner was captured

successfully.

"Thanks! Are you, uh? Hg-t-" Phineas replied.

"Yes, Hgtfpjsh," the furry guy replied.

"Gosh. Your name is all consonants," Isabella commented.

"Not all languages have vowels and consanants, Shmpthrlf. Some just

have letters," Hgtfpjsh responded.

"Isabella, I talked to this guy on the SETI device," Phineas explained

to her, "he's the Captain of this ship."

"In your tongue, I am Captain 784, Flight 32, Wing Five, of the

Alpha Centaurian Guard. We keep order in this little chunk of the galaxy."

Hgtfpjsh informed them.

"Oh," Isabella said, "so what are you, exactly?"

"I'm a Tkpxzv. One of the god races."

"You're a god? You look more like a mop to me."

Hgtfpjsh laughed. It was actually recognizable as a laugh to, though

it was much deeper and louder than a human's. A long, thick, ropelike strand

of fuzz suddenly emerged from somewhere inside Hgtfpjsh's fur and extended

over Isabella. The many thinner strands of fur unfurled from the rope and

ruffled her hair good-naturedly. Isabella looked a little scared.

"I can see why you like this one, Phineas of the Human. She is as

cute as she is inquisitive!"

"She's much more than that," Phineas began, "she's also the most

loyal person I know, and a great friend."

Isabella might've been flattered if the mop hadn't still been messing

up her hair. He withdrew his rope and retracted it beneath his coat. "Ah,

yes, my young Shmpthrlf. I have many things to tell you, but first, we must

take care of some business!"

Hgtfpjsh led them out of the room, through an airlock and down one of

the ship's corridors. Isabella looked around the ship. It wasn't at all what

she would've expected the inside of a spaceship to look like. She expected

chrome and lights and computers and robots. Instead, the halls were made out

of... crystal. Beautiful, clear, crystal that let them see out of the halls

and into the glittering void of space. Isabella could see the Earth falling

away behind them.

"Wow..." she breathed, awed by the billions of brightly shining stars.

She looked around, then suddenly stopped, feeling a little concerned, "Hey,

where's the rest of the ship?" she wondered.

"This entire ship is made of Urdgz, a stone not unlike the diamonds

you have on Earth, though it is much harder," Hgtfpjsh answered.

"So, the whole ship is transparent?" Phineas asked.

"Yes, it makes it extremely difficult to spot, even with advanced

technology. The ship you saw in the lab was a projection designed to scare the

other humans."

"Is there no one else on this ship? If it's all see-through then it

seems like I should be able to see everyone else here," Isabella observed.

"Each room has a cloaking device to prevent that. We gotta go to the

bathroom somewhere, ya know..."

"Uhh... how can you tell where the rooms are?" Phineas asked.

There was suddenly a soft vibrating in the floor. Isabella and

Phineas looked down at the invisible ground.

"That's how. Open," he ordered.

The floor opened beneath them and they floated down slowly in the weak

artificial gravity. Their feet soon touched the crystal. Isabella looked

about her and saw what looked like a huge, white cotton ball. It had a thick,

pink cloth on it that looked like a blanket. There was also something that

looked a lot like a white pillow on top of it. A few feet away was a white

wooden box.

"These are your quarters, Shmpthrlf Isabella," Hgtfpjsh began,"

they're very basic, but you won't be here for long. Once we go to the

Centaurian Governor's world, we'll be able to provide you with better

accommodations."

"Well, the bed sure looks comfortable," Isabella responded.

"Hopefully it won't ruin your spine," Hgtfpjsh said.

Phineas went and jumped onto the cotton ball, spreading himself out and

sinking deep into it.

"Ahhh..." he sighed, "Hey, H-gt-f-Captain, can we take care of

business here? I don't think I can get off this thing..."

Hgtfpjsh chuckled. "All right, you remember the terms of our

agreement, yes?"

"Yeah. Your empire won't invade Earth, and in exchange for that I

have to build stuff for you... but only if I proved that I could do it!"

"Yes. After watching your defense grid in action, we have concluded

that you are definitely capable of designing and creating weapons and other

systems for us to aid us in our conquests. With a little training in our more

advanced technology, you could be very useful to our race."

Isabella stared from Phineas to the alien, "Phineas DID have a

plan..." she muttered under her breath.

Hgtfpjsh went on, "Also, you requested that we let two humans come

with you. First, your friend here, if she chose to, and second-"

"Candace," Isabella interjected.

"Yes, his prisoner," he finished.

Isabella should've been shocked by this last revelation, but she

wasn't. Phineas had told her he was planning revenge against his sister, who

had always tried to bust him for his creations and finally succeeded, though

unintentionally, and who Isabella also thought had foiled his plans just

minutes before. Learning of Phineas's deal with Hgt-whatever, made her realize

that Candace had played right into his trap. As Isabella and Phineas had been

beaming into the spaceship after what looked like a happy ending, Phineas had

ruined it by capturing her as they left. She was on the ship somewhere, but

obviously they hadn't seen her yet.

"In a few days, we will reach the Centaurian sector's seat of

government, and you will meet with the Governor to establish formal

contact between our races, after that he will assign you to where the empire

needs your talents the most," Hgtfpjsh said, turning back to Phineas.

"Got it, chief," Phineas said sleepily.

"Good," Hgtfpjsh turned to Isabella, "Phineas' room is across the

hall. If you need anything, just speak to the ship. It'll help you, and if

that doesn't work, scream for help and my crew will come running. They're all

over the ship, even though you can't see them because of the cloaking devices.

"Okay," Isabella blinked.

"Great! Now Phineas, one last thing. What would you like us to do

with the prisoner?"

Isabella looked at Phineas warily. She knew this part wasn't good.

Phineas pondered a moment, "She made an excellent demonstration of my

defense grid... I guess I'll just leave her alone for a while and let her stew

in her own muck. She's probably crying like a baby in her cell right now.

'AH! HELP! Mom, Dad! Don't leave me here!'" Phineas laughed.

"I still don't know why you can't let this thing with her go,

Phineas," Isabella said tartly.

"Oh, but there's more," he continued, "she's going to be going with us

wherever we are... as my obedient slave. She'll never see her precious

family, except me, or her friends ever again."

Isabella sighed. She wanted to argue the case, but she knew it was

futile. So many people had tried to get through to him already, but his anger

was set. Candace had helped ruin his life, and she would pay forevermore.

"Okay then, will do. Anything I can get you two before I go?"

Hgtfpjsh asked.

"Isabella?" Phineas queried.

"No," she replied.

"Okay, just call me if you need anything," And with that, the alien

went under the trapdoor and easily jumped back out of it, disappearing behind

the cloaking device.

"Wow. Either he's a really good jumper, or the gravity here's really

weak," Isabella noted.

Phineas and Isabella were silent a moment.

"You're mad at me, huh, Isabella?" Phineas said.

"You could've left it all back on Earth! You could've just left

Candace there and everything would've been fine! You'd won! The bust was

foiled!"

"I did leave it all behind Isabella... everything. My house, my

family, my Summer. It all had to go because of her."

"But Candace didn't bust you! Your-"

"Actually, that's not true, she did."

"What?"

I heard Mom and Dad talking about it the other day. Mom came outside

because she was following the trail of wet footprints and barf Candace tracked

through the house the night before. So Candace DID bust us, not

intentionally, but only because she was too stinking out of it to realize what

was happening.

Isabella blinked, "So she DID ruin your life..."

"Yes, yes she did... don't you see that there's some justice behind

this, Isabella? She stopped a very good thing, one that should've continued,

but now, because of her, a great, wonderful future for the world has been

crushed, and now I have to help aliens build weapons to destroy, instead of

gadgets for fun and creativity. She ruined my life, so now, I'm ruining hers,

and avenging myself and humanity of the loss."

The two were silent again.

Isabella finally spoke, "I'm sorry, Phineas. I-"

"Don't be."

"Why not?"

"Because you're right. Regardless of all that, what I've done and

what I'm going to do to Candace is still wrong. I know it, and you know it."

"So why are you still doing it then?"

"I hate her. That's why. If she could give back what I've lost, then

I might be able to forgive her. But she can't, and I hate her for stealing my

future from me."

Isabella just stared at him sadly. She didn't have anything to say.

"I'm the one who should be sorry," Phineas finally said, jumping off

the bed and heading for the trapdoor, "for everything I've put you through,"

Under the door, he turned and looked at her sadly, almost longingly, "You're a

better person than I am, Isabella. I wish I could let go. I wish I could be

like you."

Then he jumped and floated up and out of the room, leaving Isabella

alone. She stood quietly, mulling over what he'd just said. So there WAS

some remorse for what he'd done... just not enough to change. She sighed.

After standing for a minute more, she tried asking the ship a question, like

Hgtfpjsh had instructed.

"Uh, ship? Where's the prison room?"

Isabella started as a small, floating robot appeared next to her.

"Follow me," it said.

Isabella followed the robot. She wanted to comfort Candace... but she

was also a little miffed about something Candace had done.

Phineas' guess as to what Candace was doing was fairly correct.

Actually, it almost WAS correct. Actually, he'd hit the nail on the head so

hard that it probably went through the table.

Candace was bawling... she was almost to exhausted too bawl, but the

energy was still coming from somewhere. She'd embraced her Parents and her

friend and stepbrother all together. They had won! It had been over! They

had all been brought back together again and everything was back to the way it

was supposed to be.

"UGH!" Candace slammed her fist against the invisible floor in

frustration, "Phineas! WHY!" she screamed.

She stared out in despair at the fast-shrinking Earth. "Mom... Dad...

Ferb... Perry... Stacy... Jeremy..." she whimpered, naming off her family and

friends.

She sat and cried for a long time. She was in a prison cell on...

whatever this was. It had a great view, but Candace didn't exactly care at

the moment.

Candace had been through a lot. In the past few weeks her house had

been destroyed, her family kidnapped and her life generally wrecked. It had

started when Mom had walked in on Phineas and Ferb during one of their insane

projects. Candace, unfortunately, had been sleepwalking the night before and

had collapsed on the back porch. When Mom came out and yelled at them, the

boys had both seen Candace there and assumed she'd busted them, or even if she

hadn't, she had definitely wanted to (which was true, she'd been trying to get

them caught all Summer). The boys had been furious with her. Ferb had since

forgiven her, but Phineas seemed like he wanted to hold the grudge until the

end of time. After the event, which left Candace completely stunned, she'd

gone for a walk. While she was out, the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz brought his

giant robot to her house, destroyed it and kidnapped her family.

Candace eventually came home and saw the wreck. Horrified, she'd

teamed up with Isabella, Phineas' friend from across the street, and they'd

tracked Doofenshmirtz to his evil lair, where a nasty brawl to free Candace's

trapped family had commenced. Isabella was almost killed while heroically

fighting a giant robot. However, Phineas, though imprisoned, cried out and

saved her, offering to do anything for Doofenshmirtz in return for her life.

Doofenshmirtz had asked him to throw Candace (who was about to defeat him) out

of his lair, a task Phineas was way too happy to perform. In the following

brother-sister slugfest, Phineas had not defeated Candace by punching her

(though that was definitely involved), but by breaking her spirit with a few

choice words. After that Candace had run away, and Isabella was kept safe

with the prisoners. Doofenshmirtz had moved his lair to his secret island

hideout.

Since then the broken Candace had gone to what was left of her house

and stayed there doing absolutely nothing for almost a week. Phineas had

joined Dr. Doofenshmirtz and gotten himself and Isabella released, at least,

within the lair. Isabella soon sent a message to Candace's phone requesting

help, which, by some miracle, had survived the fall of her house and by

another one was within Candace's earshot when it was received. Not long after

that Isabella had snuck a call to Candace. Phineas got on the line too.

Isabella still wanted help, but Phineas gave Candace a challenge to "Come and

face" him.

Candace, flush with renewed purpose, had taken Phineas'

challenge and mounted a brave attack against Doofenshmirtz's island fortress,

which now had a mighty defense grid, built by Phineas. She'd nearly been

killed by the defenses, but her best friend Stacy and Isabella's Fireside

Girls had showed up in time to rescue her. Candace then got through the

automated defenses, only to have to fight some more once she reached the lair.

Candace had had to battle Doofenshmirtz, his giant robot, Phineas and a swarm

of sentry bots and guns. She would've been buried alive (or dead, really) if

Stacy and the Fireside Girls hadn't jumped in a second time and saved her.

With covering fire from her allies, Candace had run to the glass cage holding

her family. Unfortunately, Phineas decided to make a last ditch attempt to

stop her, and he'd jumped between her and the cage. Candace had tried to talk

him down, not wanting to hurt her little brother, and wound up getting a steel

bar in her teeth. Phineas then proceeded much as he had in their earlier

fight, with spirit-breaking insults. He had raised his bar over his beaten

and crying sister, preparing to finish her off, when Candace had looked over

at her still-trapped Mom, a few feet away. Seeing her Mom in so much pain,

after all that had happened, had awakened an inner courage within Candace, who

blocked the bar as it came down, picked Phineas up and gave him the punch of

his life. With a little more scuffling, she had smashed open the cage with

her Mom, Dad and Ferb in it, freeing them at last. Ferb had run from the cage

and embraced his heroic sister, forgiving her immediately for busting him, and

Mom and Dad and even Stacy and their pet Platypus, Perry, joined him in

thanking the courageous girl.

At that moment, Candace had thought the nightmare was over. Her

family was back together and things would return to normal. They had

triumphed against all odds and righted what was wrong. Sadly, it turned out

that Phineas had set the whole thing up, apparently to get revenge on Candace.

The whole stupid thing had been a trap, and now, although her family on Earth

was free, Phineas had captured his real target: her.

Candace kept on crying. Why not? She had nothing to do and nothing

to be happy about. It appeared that she'd had the strength to save her

family, but perhaps not the strength to save herself.

"Prisoner."

Candace looked up through her tears. A large, fluffy creature with

shaggy brown fur, three suction-cupped feet and a gray-haired head looked down

at her.

"What?" she asked. The alien didn't surprise her. He'd been

standing guard over her cell since she'd been pulled into the ship.

"You have a visitor."

"Tell him I don't want to see him!" Candace snapped.

The creature looked curiously over at the visitor. "I thought this

one was female..."

"Female? What?" Candace replied

"Candace, it's me, Isabella."

"Are you alone?" Candace asked.

"Yes!"

Candace sighed, "All right, come on up."

The guard stepped to the side to let Isabella through. Candace came

up to the bars of the cell to talk to her.

"What do want, Isabella?" Candace questioned gruffly.

Isabella didn't answer. Once she stopped, her eyes went wide with

horror as she gave Candace a once over. She'd seen her earlier, but not this

close. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Gosh..." she whispered, "Candace... what's happened to you?"

Just a couple of weeks ago, Candace had been a bright-eyed, hyper,

high-strung teenager with pretty red hair, a nice red blouse, a white skirt

and white shoes. She had been in the swing of life, busting her brothers,

yakking away endlessly on her phone, going to the mall and hanging with her

boyfriend Jeremy. Now, what remained was an exhausted wreck. Her eyes were

red from crying, she didn't seem to even have a spark of energy left, and her

dirty, tangled hair hung miserably over her face and back. She was still in

the same, puke-stained pajamas she'd been in the day of the bust, which

themselves were torn and dirty and burned. She wasn't even wearing any shoes.

The improvised armor she'd worn to attack Phineas' defense grid lay in a heap

a couple feet away from her.

"Why are you helping him?" Candace asked, "Weren't you the one that

wanted to be rescued?"

"I promised him I would..."

"What do you mean?"

Isabella explained what had happened on her side since the first fight

in Dr. Doofenshmirtz's lair. The two girls hadn't heard a lot from each other

since then. Isabella then asked Candace what she'd been up to, and got the

full report. When she was done, they both were silent, thinking things over.

Candace finally looked up at Isabella, "You sure are loyal, Isabella.

Too loyal."

"I know Phineas is still there, Candace. Sooner or later he's going

to remember who he is and be good again."

Candace showed Isabella her bloodied teeth. Isabella cringed,

"That's what I thought," Candace said coldly.

"He feels guilty, Candace. I can tell he's not happy, even though he

got what he wanted."

"If he feels guilty, he doesn't feel guilty enough to change," Candace

growled.

Isabella sighed. Playing monkey in the middle was no fun at all,

"Look, do you really believe Phineas is evil?" Isabella asked incredulously.

Candace laughed derisively. She stared down at the tiny star that was

now Earth. Her laughter died down into a whimper, "No," she finally said

softly, surprising both Isabella and herself.

Isabella blinked, "You don't?"

"No, I'M the one who's evil."

Isabella was confused now, "What?"

Candace suddenly broke down hard core, startling Isabella, "Oh,

Isabella! He hates me! Me, his big sister! H-he hates me!"

"Uh, yeah, that seems pretty well established."

"He hit me in the mouth with a metal bar! He kicked me and punched me

and told me no one wanted me! Why...? Why would he do that to me?"

"It's definitely a bit of an overreaction," Isabella agreed, not

understanding what Candace was trying to say.

"That's not what I mean..."

"Huh?"

"I guess... you don't have any siblings, so it doesn't make sense to

you."

"No, but if you explain it maybe it will."

"Phineas hates me, Isabella, but do you think I hate him?"

Isabella looked into her sad eyes. She shook her head slowly, "No, I

don't think you do..."

"I know I don't act like it but... deep down, Isabella I LOVE him.

He's my little brother... my best friend..."

"That's why you didn't want to fight him earlier."

"No matter how rotten he's being, I just can't bear to hurt him. When

I look at him, I..." Candace went silent.

"You what?"

Candace swallowed, trying to contain her emotions. "I remember... I

remember when Mom brought him home from the hospital..."

Isabella's expression slowly began to change from one of bewilderment

to one of comprehension. She was starting to get it.

"I remember holding him. I remember how happy he was. How happy it

made me to see him. I remember hugging him tight and just loving my new baby

brother."

Isabella smiled cautiously, "Wow."

"As he got older, he said his first word. He didn't say 'Mama' or

'Dada', he said," Candace almost couldn't say it, "C-Candy."

Isabella's eyes went wide with surprise, "He said YOUR name first?"

"Yeah. After that I always remember him saying things like, 'Mama,

can Candy play with me?', or 'Candy, can you read this to me?', or-or-" she

couldn't continue.

"It sounds like you were pretty close."

"I remember how sweet he was, how cute he was, all happy and gentle."

"Yeah, he was," Isabella agreed.

"But you know what meant more to me than anything, Isabella?"

"What?"

"This one day, when he was three years old, Phineas got out of the yard

and started running around the neighborhood. All of us were frantic. Mom was

having a fit. Dad was about to call the police. I was terrified... I was so

afraid he would get hurt... I ran out of the house and through the streets,

calling for him.

'Phineas! Phineas! Where are you? Phineas!' I yelled. Then I

heard him. I heard him scream.

'Candy! Candy, help me!' I remember how desperate he sounded. I

could hear the fear in his voice. I remember I belted toward it and I came

around the corner and I saw him. He was pinned up against a wall. He looked

scared out of his mind, and he had a good reason to be."

"What was wrong?"

"Just a few feet away, there was this dog barking at him and snarling

at him, and, Isabella, this wasn't some little puppy dog, this was a

rotweiler, and it was MAD."

Isabella's eyes went wide, "Oh my gosh..." she whispered.

"I remember it ran at him... and I... grabbed a stick and ran at it. I hit it before it

could get to him and it turned around and clamped down on my leg. I remember

Phineas screaming and me screaming and how bad it hurt. But then I grabbed

that dog's neck and I poked him in the eyes. That got him off, but mostly it just

made him angrier. While it rubbed its eyes I grabbed my stick and got up, but

then it lunged at me," Candace gulped, "at my throat. But I hit him first. Then I

hit him again, and again, and again, and again until he yiped and ran away."

"Wow... really?"

"Yeah, then I sat on the ground and cried a little, because my

leg hurt so much... and then Phineas walked over and he looked at where the

dog had bit me... and he felt the teeth marks. Then he looked up at me with tears

in his eyes, and he said, 'That dog hurt you, Candy. He hurt you.'

'Yeah,' I said.

'He wanted to hurt me, too, Candy, but you came... you saved me...

thank you Candy..." then he started to cry, and I picked him up and hugged

him. And he said, "I'm sorry I left the yard, I-I- was so scared... but you

came..."

Then I told him, 'Shhh... it's okay, Phineas... it's all over...

everything's okay now... you're safe.' And I remember he just buried his face

in my shoulder and cried it all out and I cried with him. And we just sat and

we held each other and cried for a long time."

"Aww..." said Isabella, typical girl style.

"Then finally Mom and Dad came running around the corner calling for

us, and they saw us sitting there, and Phineas let go of me and ran to Mom and

he said, 'Mom! Candy saved me! Candy saved me!'

And she asked him, 'What'd she save you from?'

'She saved me from that big, mean dog!'

By now I'd gotten up and I was limping toward them. Mom looked at me

and she and Dad saw the bite and the blood and they were all like, 'Candace,

what happened?'

And before I could even answer, Phineas went, 'That dog was a

wotweiler, Mommy! It tried to kill me, but Candy got a stick and she hit him,

and then he bit her, but she poked him in the eyes and she picked up her stick

and she fought with him and she fought him and she scared him off!'

And I remember looking into Mom and Dad's eyes. They were looking at

me and they were just... what's the word? Brimming... brimming with pride.

And Mom said to Phineas, 'You're lucky to have a sister who loves you so

much.' I remember her and Dad looking at me. They didn't say anything, but I

could tell what they were thinking. I knew they were proud of me for saving

him. I knew that they knew how much I loved my little brother..."

"You were willing to risk your life for him! You DID risk your life

for him!"

"But their approval wasn't what meant the most to me from that day."

"What was it?"

"After that, Phineas asked if he could go talk to me and Mom put him

down. He walked up to me and hugged my legs and looked up into my eyes and

said something I'll never forget."

"What's that?"

"He said... he... just... said..." Candace looked like she couldn't

quite say it.

"He said?"

"He said, 'I love you Candy," That was it. Candace wailed and

started crying full force. It wasn't a loud cry, but more of a soft, sad one.

Isabella understood now, "Candace, I never knew..." she whispered.

"I was his hero. And now I let him down. I wrecked his Summer and

now he hates me. He hates his Candy... and I don't blame him."

Isabella watched Candace weep. She was at a loss.

"Um... maybe I'll tell him what you said," Isabella tried.

Candace shook her head. "I don't think he cares anymore," she sobbed.

"What're you going to do?" Isabella asked.

"I-I don't know," Candace replied, "I mean, I'm in a jail cell on an

alien spaceship, what am I supposed to do?"

"You're not gonna try and break out and find an escape pod to take you

back to Earth?"

Candace looked back out at the stars, "I don't even know which star

it is anymore..."

Isabella sat down on the floor. Candace slid down onto her knees,

still weeping. Isabella didn't know what to say.

Luckily, Candace spoke next, "I'll never see Earth again, Isabella.

Mom and Dad and Ferb and Stacy and all the others are gone..."

Isabella didn't respond right away. She was thinking while staring at

the stars.

"I guess that's fitting though, isn't it? I ruined Phineas' life, so

he ruined mine," Candace said after a pause.

Isabella didn't say anything. She was remembering an event earlier.

Something was bothering her.

"Isabella..." Candace sighed, "Are you going to say anything?"

"Something's bugging me, Candace," Isabella finally said,

"Yeah? Something's bugging me too. A lot of things actually."

"No, not like that... there's something I don't get. See, I didn't

actually come here to help you feel better."

"What?"

"I think you're going to see Earth again. I think you're going to win

when all this is over."

Candace was confused, "How? Win what?"

"Candace, what happened in the last week and a half was the opening

shot for something bigger."

"Isabella, what are you talking about?"

"Well, that's kind of the problem... I'm not quite sure what I'm

trying to say."

"Oh well. Keep talking, I've got nothing better to do."

"I've just noticed that... even though Doofenshmirtz kind of kicked

things off, this last week and a half wasn't a battle between society and a

criminal..."

"What was it then?"

"It was a contest between a brother and a sister."

"So... yeah, I guess it was. Me against Phineas, right?"

"A lot of other people were involved, but in the end, that's what it

all really boiled down to. You probably would've beaten Doofenshmirtz when we

raided his lab back in Danville if Phineas hadn't brought his issues into the

mix. He's made this a lot worse than it needed to be... I guess."

"No kidding."

"It's funny that you picked that day to bust them..."

"Technically I didn't..."

"Technically you did, your mom said she followed the trail of water

and barf you left in the house to the backyard."

"So I did it? That would've been nice to know."

"But, back to what I was saying... everything was a struggle between

you and Phineas..."

"Yeah, and he won... if anybody won, that is..."

"Well, that's just it, I don't think he did."

"I'm trapped in a prison cell and you say that he didn't win?"

"For two reasons, one, I don't think this is over. He won the battle,

but I think he's going to lose the war. And then... there was the look."

"The look?"

"It was so weird, what happened between you and him..."

"What was weird?"

"Remember, like, just an hour ago you two were fighting in front of

your parents' cage?"

"Yeah..."

"Remember he was about to beat you?"

"Yeah."

"What happened? What made you suddenly fight back?"

"I saw Mom," Candace replied simply, "I saw what he was doing to her."

"I wish you could've seen the look in your eyes, Candace."

"What?"

"Everyone saw it but you. It was..."

"Isabella spit it out!"

"When you caught that bar, when you picked up Phineas and decked him,

there was this fire in your eyes I'd never seen before in anyone… much less you."

"I was mad, so?"

"You weren't just mad, Candace. You remember Phineas' look when you

picked him up?"

"I wasn't paying attention. I was too angry."

"He was SCARED, Candace. I've never seen Phineas look really scared

before. Even when he fell off that flying haunted house he didn't look that

scared."

Candace was a little surprised at the news, Phineas was irrepressively

confident and collected. But she still didn't know why it mattered, "So,

what does it all mean, Isabella?"

"Well... it just seems... wrong to me."

"How?"

"I've been around you and Phineas for years Candace. Phineas is

happy, energetic, creative, optimistic, confident, and fearless. But you,

Candace? No offense or anything, but you're NOT. You're frantic, nervous,

pessimistic and scream like a baby at the drop of a pin."

"Pretty much."

"So... HOW did you do it, Candace?" Isabella said forcefully.

"Do what?"

It was Isabella's turn to get emotional, only in a much harsher way.

She stood up, reached through the bars, grabbed Candace's reeking shirt and

pulled the surprised Candace nose to nose with her.

"Phineas is my best friend, Candace. He's more than my best friend.

He's my love. And he's my hero. My knight in shining armor. I don't know

what you did to him, but... well... it actually kinda made me mad."

"Mad at what?"

"Mad at you, dummy!"

"Dummy? Isabella, are you feeling all right?"

Isabella dropped Candace and walked away. She looked like she was

angry but didn't quite know why. She finally rounded on Candace and said

fiercely: "How is it that whiny, selfish, high-strung, fraidy cat Candace Flynn

brought down MY Phineas? MY hero, my glorious, invincible knight in shining

armor? How was it that YOU, of all people, could scare him?"

"Didn't think it was possible, huh?"

"You're pathetic, Candace. But he's afraid of you! And that makes me

afraid..."

Candace was momentarily feeling better. Isabella's sudden loss of

control was giving her an excellent diversion, "Afraid of what, Isabella?"

"I'm afraid that you'll BEAT him. I'm don't know if I can bear to

watch my knight fall... especially to someone like you."

"I don't know Isabella, he's not exactly the one in jail."

Isabella ignored her. She was too busy talking to herself, "I

know... I know the things he's been doing are wrong... but at the same

time..."

"You can't decide which side you're on, can you?" Candace said,

finally showing some insight.

"I want to be on Phineas' side, and I promised him I would be... but I

also don't want to be the bad guy..."

"Kind of reminds me of that time I had to choose whether to go to the

mall with Stacy or bust my brothers..."

Isabella laughed bitterly, "I hate being monkey in the middle."

"So, you really think I can defeat Phineas and set everything

straight?"

"I wish he'd just come around..." Isabella griped.

"You think that just because I gave him one nasty look that I-"

"Candace, Phineas wasn't afraid of the look-he was afraid because he

knew he was on the wrong side when he saw it! Not everyone gets mad like

that, Candace. He didn't just see an angry sister, he saw justice coming to

take his head off! He knew that you were right, he was wrong, and he was

about to pay for it! Don't you see, Candace? He's lost his moral footing!

Everything that was great about Phineas Flynn has been destroyed by his anger!

He's losing his confidence in himself because he knows, deep down that

someday, sooner or later, what goes around, comes around. He knows he's going

to be punished for the things he's done. And YOU, I think, are the one who's

going to punish him."

"So..."

"He doesn't have a good cause behind him, Candace. You do. And

that's why, sooner or later, you're going to beat him if he doesn't change.

You reminded him that good, one way or another, will always win in the end.

If he wants to win, he either will ultimately have to kill you, or somehow

permanently break your spirit... if he can't do that, he can't win. Every sin

that boy commits makes him weaker."

"So, you're saying, that if I don't give up, I'll win?"

"I don't know what I'm saying. All I know is that Phineas, even

though he technically beat you, he's not as strong as he used to be, and that

you are not as weak as I thought you were. Actually, I think you're stronger

than ANYONE thought you were, including yourself. I think Phineas was the

only one who realized that you were that strong."

"Phineas?"

"He said only you could beat his defense grid, and he was right. I

think that, with that grid, he was partly putting on a show for the aliens...

and partly he was testing you."

"What would he need to test me for?"

"Because, even though he hates you, he still puts you on a pedestal.

You're still his big sister. I think he wanted to know that his sister was

really as strong as he knew that she was... or prove that you weren't and that

his hate was justified. But you confirmed it for him... as mad as he is at

you, he knows that you're still his mighty big sister. I think he wishes

you'd forget it, too, because he can't truly defeat you until you do."

The girls were silent. Isabella reflected on the weird, rambling

conversation and decided it was indicative of her own confusion. Candace

wasn't sure how to react. Isabella's long, confused lecture about... what was

the point exactly? She was worried that Phineas was going to catch it in the

pants, and that she(Candace) would somehow prevail against him because she was

good and Phineas wasn't. Or something. She decided maybe-

BOOM!

Candace's thoughts were suddenly cut off by a powerful blast from the

far wall. She and Isabella screamed as a pack of what looked like upright

bats with huge mandibles and snail eyes spilled into the room through the

smoke. They ran at the guard, making a sound like a cat hissing and a lion

roaring at the same time.

"ALIONS! KMTH! KMTH!" the guard screamed. He was plainly

terrified by these things, whatever they were. He produced two ropelike arms

and swung at the attackers. One got hit and squealed in agony as it first

got what looked like electrocuted and then literally crumbled to dust.

Candace noticed that the guard had something black woven into his arms, the

weapon he'd used, she assumed.

He swung at the others, but five of them ducked under the weapon and

leapt at him, latching on with their claws and burying their cruel mandibles

in him, they then bit down, yanked back, and... the guard's wails became

unbearable as the flesh-chunk-ripping-out frenzy began. Candace and Isabella

had only seen violence like this in nature shows.

THUNK! Isabella jumped back and Candace screeched in terror as one of

the beasts latched onto the bars of her cell. It closed it's mandibles over

three of the bars and bit through them like paper, then smashed out what was

left of them with it's fists.

Candace stepped to the back of the cell (which wasn't exactly far.)

She was dead, she knew she was dead! The foul creature shot its arm out,

caught hers and yanked her out of the cell. Candace looked at the thing. It

looked at her. She waited a few seconds.

"Are you... going to eat me?" Candace asked fearfully.

To her surprise, the creature responded. It gave her a look that

could definitely be described as perplexed. Candace blinked. Could it be

possible that these savage creatures were intelligent?

Suddenly, three of the furry aliens burst through the door with some

kind of rod-shaped weapon.

"Kunthasks!" the thing holding Candace yelled. The things all leapt

off the mangled dead guard and ran back for the breach in the wall. The one

holding Candace, although it was only half as tall as she was, slung her over

its shoulder and bolted across the room, dodging... whatever it was the

aliens were firing at it and leapt through the breach, a door slamming shut

behind it as it did. Candace heard a loud roar, then she felt the floor

shudder, then she got thrown back into a wall.

Once she got over the G-forces and her now messed-up stomach, Candace

looked around. She quickly realized she was in another spaceship, but this

one was more typical-alien style. It was a big, silvery sphere, with the

cockpit at the top and a cargo bay beneath. She realized she wasn't standing

on the floor, but on a pile of random junk, a lot of which seemed to be

ammunition and weird-looking foodstuffs. Scattered around the room were six

of the vicious aliens that had killed the guard, hanging on to anything they

could, and a seventh one, the one that had grabbed her, was slammed against

the wall next to her.

Eventually the ship stopped accelerating and they were able to walk

around. The aliens all turned and looked at Candace. She should've been

terrified, but for some reason she wasn't. She was almost... comfortable.

One of the things bent over and started digging through the piles of

garbage on the ground. He eventually dug out two things that looked like

headsets and walked over to Candace and the one that grabbed her. Candace

took the proffered device curiously, and the thing next to her took the other

one. It stuck the device on its head and gestured for her to do the same.

She did. The creature with the other headset made a noise.

"Uthacktwa Xosizi, kwioth Alion!" it spat.

"I am Xosizi, of the Alion!" a voice in Candace's head said harshly.

Candace nearly fell over. She looked at the creature in shock.

"Are you talking to me?" she asked it.

"Trag," it hissed.

"Yes," the voice said.

"Uhh... are you going to eat me?" Candace asked worriedly.

The alien considered her for a moment. It shook its head.

"Too skinny, not worth it," came the reply, "what are you, anyway?"

"WHAT or WHO?"

"Both."

"I'm... Candace Flynn, the Human."

"What world are you from?"

"Earth."

"What star?"

"We just call it the sun."

The creatures hissed and spat at each other a bit, apparently

confused. One of them screeched from the cockpit. Comprehension began to

form on their faces.

"You're from the Sol System..." the creature spat at Candace, "I

didn't know there was life there. That system was annihilated years ago. I

thought that race was dead... only the Candasaurs survived."

"Canda-whats?"

He stalk-eyed Candace carefully, "I think they'll want to meet you."

"Why?"

"They've been waiting for you for sixty-five million years."


	2. Chapter 2: Agent P's Greatest Mission

Chapter 2: Agent P's Greatest Mission

A helicopter whirred over the Pacific Ocean, heading for Danville. On

the helicopter were Linda Flynn, Lawrence and Ferb Fletcher, four fireside

girls, Stacy and Perry the Platypus. All of them were down in the dumps.

Linda was Candace's mother, and she was crying into Lawrence, her second

husband's shoulder. Lawrence himself didn't look like he felt much better.

Ferb, Lawrence's son, stared out the windows and back at the island he and his

family had been held on for the past week and a half. His courageous stepsister had

rescued them from Doofenshmirtz and his stepbrother, Phineas, only to be

snatched away herself. He sighed and looked at the sky, where the spacecraft

had only minutes ago blasted away with her, Phineas and Isabella and torn

their family even further apart.

Across from him, the Fireside Girls sat in a sad silence. Things were

better for them. Their lives and their families hadn't been destroyed, they'd

simply lost a friend... their troop leader, Isabella. They had come to the

island to rescue her, and they'd succeeded. Unfortunately, she had chosen to

stick with Phineas rather than return home with them, though she had spoken to

them and appointed her successor first.

And over in the corner, alone, was Candace's best friend, Stacy. She

seemed almost as devastated as Mrs. Flynn was, maybe more. Sometimes you

don't realize how great something is until you lose it. Stacy's family was

fine, her house was still there, her world was still intact... but she didn't

care. She'd never cried this hard in her life, especially with other people

around. Her best friend was gone, and she didn't know how to get her back.

She pulled her face out of her hands and turned her tear-stained face toward

the sky. She pounded on the window and let out an angry yell. Everyone

turned and looked at her except for Mr. Fletcher and Mrs. Flynn. Stacy

slammed her head and other fist against the window and kept sobbing.

Ferb and the Girls turned back to their own thoughts. Ferb couldn't

fully describe how he felt. He was definitely sad, a bit angry and also very

tired, but what he really felt was... sorrow. He was sorry for the log flume.

He was sorry that Doofenshmirtz had kidnapped them. He was sorry Phineas had

held his grudge. He was sorry Isabella had stood by him. He was even sorry

that Candace had come to rescue them, though he commended her for it, because

if she hadn't, she wouldn't have been taken to outer space with his rotten

stepbrother. He was sorry for everything, for the whole chain of events that

had gotten worse and worse until now his family had practically been

destroyed. Both of his stepmother's children were gone, and wherever they

were, they were fighting with each other. Only he, her stepson, and her

husband remained.

He was also sorry for the future. He knew it probably wouldn't

involve fun-filled Summer days under the tree in the backyard building amazing

things with his brother and his friends. Gee, since his Mom had caught them,

he probably wouldn't be able to build amazing things at all. His grounding

might be rescinded, due to recent events, but it wouldn't even matter that

much. He could be bored and miserable inside, or he could be bored and

miserable outside. He wouldn't even get to hear Candace yelling and

complaining about... everything anymore. In short, the world as he knew it

had ended, and it probably would never come back.

He was sorry.

Stacy's tear-filled eyes stared angrily into the sky. She was sad,

like everyone else, but she was also feeling hatred. Surprisingly, Candace

wasn't the one she was thinking the most about. She was thinking of Phineas.

She was thinking of how much she HATED Phineas, and what she was gonna do to

that triangle-headed, scheming, jerk-faced son of a *# %! when she finally

caught up to him. In spite of what he had done, nobody else hated Phineas.

Everyone else was too close to him to hate him, but not Stacy. All she knew

was that that twerp had hurt her best friend, and he was gonna pay.

Perry slid off his seat and walked to the front of the chopper. He

still had his hat on and even walked upright. His cover had long since been

blown. He had no reason to pretend to be the Flynn-Fletcher's dumb, useless

pet anymore. In the front of the chopper were Major Monogram, Carl and the

anonymous pilot. He went and tapped Monogram on the knee to get his

attention.

"Huh? Oh, Agent P, what is it?"

Perry found a slip of paper and wrote, "My cover's blown," and

showed it to his boss.

"Yeah, I noticed," Monogram said.

"What're we going to do about it?" Agent P wrote.

"Well, Agent P, that's kind of up to you," Carl interjected.

"Carl! Don't read over my shoulder!" Monogram barked.

"You're always mean to me!" Carl whined.

"Uh, yeah, I guess your right, sorry," the Major growled irritably.

Perry blinked at them.

"Uh, right, so... you... CAPTURED Doofenshmirtz today Agent P..."

Monogram began, "so... since your family only knows about you and not the

OWCA... umm..."

Perry tapped his foot impatiently.

"Basically, Agent P, we can wipe this massive, life-changing, vital

experience from your family's heads and leave them with a ton of unanswered

questions... or we can relocate you," Carl said.

Perry stared at them, thinking. He actually had had a third option in

mind. He pulled out his spy badge and set it on Major Mongram's lap.

"Agent P?" Monogram asked.

Then Perry took off his hat and gave that to him too. He gave

Monogram a meaningful look.

"Agent P, are you resigning?" Monogram wondered.

Perry nodded his head.

"Why?" Carl asked.

Perry pointed to the grieving Flynn-Fletchers.

"I get it..." said Carl.

"I don't," said Major Monogram.

"All of this happened because of Doofenshmirtz, huh Agent P?" Carl

started.

Perry nodded.

"You don't want them to suffer any more because of your job, right?"

Perry nodded again.

"Well..." Monogram began, "I can respect that. But you have to swear

never to reveal the OWCA's existence to your family... if your family asks

you, just say you worked for a special branch of the CIA and leave it at

that!"

Perry growled in agreement.

The three were silent for a moment. Perry eventually began to walk

out of the room.

"Agent P!" Monogram barked.

Perry turned around.

"We-we'll miss you. You were a g-great agent," Monogram said. It

looked like the old blowhard wanted to cry, either that or he had a wad of gum

stuck in his throat.

"Good luck!" Carl chimed.

Perry gave them one more steely secret agent glare and a thumbs up.

Then he turned to...

"Oh, one more thing..." Major Monogram called.

Perry turned around again, a little irritated. That would've been a

great last moment.

"I almost forgot, there's one person you can reveal the existence of

OWCA to."

Perry cocked his head with interest.

"Candace knows. We told her last week while we were looking for you.

So... uh... if you ever find her... I don't know how, but if you do, you can

tell her all about it. She knows she has to keep it secret."

Perry looked into the sky. Wondering where Candace was. It would be

weird being able to tell someone about his work... if she ever came back. He

looked back at Monogram and Carl. They stared at the departing agent sadly.

"I wish we could help her," Carl said finally.

"I know," Monogram added, "she just looked so down and out..."

"Like she didn't have a friend in the world..."

"You kinda just wanted to... you know... just give her a big hug and

tell her everything was gonna be okay!" Monogram sniffed.

Perry thought a moment. Then he went up to the Major and took back

the badge and put his hat back on.

"Having second thoughts?" Carl asked.

Perry didn't answer. He walked into the other room. Linda and

Lawrence were still holding each other. The Fireside Girls were looking at

the floor. Stacy and Ferb were staring out their respective windows. Perry

waddled up behind Ferb and tapped him. The boy turned and blinked at him.

Perry motioned to Ferb to follow him. Perry began leading him back to Carl

and the Major.

"Where are you going, Ferb?" Lawrence asked.

Ferb shrugged. Perry glanced back nervously. He wasn't sure if Mr.

Fletcher and Mrs. Flynn should know about this. Unfortunately, they got up

to follow Ferb, who looked expectantly at Perry. Perry turned and continued

walking, followed by his family. He led them to Major Monogram and Carl.

"Agent P? What's this about?" Carl wondered.

Perry pulled out the paper. Everyone gathered around as the

Platypus began drawing. He drew a pointed can, then added some fins around

the back and drew fire spewing from between them.

"A rocket?" Linda guessed.

Perry nodded and kept drawing. He drew something that looked like a

pointy half-circle on a stick, then he added some long hair, two eyes, a nose

and a mouth.

"Candace?" Lawrence guessed.

Perry nodded again. Then he drew an arrow from the rocket to

Candace's head.

"We need a rocket to rescue Candace?" Carl guessed.

Perry nodded. Everyone groaned.

"We kind of figured that out already, Perry!" Linda groaned, not

believing that she was talking to a platypus.

"There's no way for us to even GET a rocket!" Lawrence added.

"Even if the government of the United States gave you one, it couldn't

go past the moon... fast," Monogram said gruffly.

Perry held up a webbed finger. Then he started drawing something next

to the rocket. Everyone leaned in closer, eagerly awaiting Perry's solution.

He drew a long, skinny brick, then a fat, sideways brick about three-quarters

to the top of it, then two sticks at the bottom of the skinny brick and two

ovals at the bottom of those.

People were scratching their heads in confusion. Perry continued. He

put something fluffy-looking at the top of the skinny brick. Then he detailed

the ovals, giving them little stringy things, then he put what looked like

very long pants on the creation, followed by a tiny shirt...

"Is this a person?" Lawrence asked, "That looks familiar..."

Perry drew two arms coming out of the shirt, one with a clenched fist.

Then he gave the creation eyes and...

"Ferb? Is that Ferb?" Linda asked.

Perry nodded vigorously.

"Why's he next to the rocket?" Monogram asked.

Perry was a little surprised no one had caught on yet. He drew a

hammer protruding from Ferb's fist and then drew an arrow from him to the

rocket.

"Oh, I get it," Lawrence began, "he wants Ferb to build a rocket to

rescue Candace!"

Perry nodded enthusiastically.

"Hmm... that could work," Carl observed.

"Yeah, why didn't we think of that earlier?" Monogram wondered.

Linda didn't seem to share their sentiment. She laughed. Everyone

looked at her.

"What's so funny, dear?" Lawrence said.

"It's just funny... I mean, Ferb can't build an interstellar rocket...

heh heh... heh... can you?" she asked nervously, turning to Ferb.

Ferb blinked.

Linda groaned. She'd seen Phineas and Ferb's log flume the other day,

which meant Candace had been telling the truth all Summer, which meant...

"You've already done it, haven't you?"

Ferb blinked again. Why say something when the other person already

knows?

Everyone looked intensely at Linda. Perry had supplied their only

forlorn chance of saving Candace... all they needed was Linda's permission for

Ferb to build a rocket.

"N-no! Absolutely not! You are NOT building any more of your-your

dangerous creations! I've already lost two of my children, I'm not going to

lose my last one!"

Perry gurgled at her.

"I said no, and that's final!" she yelled. She turned and began

storming out of the room, leaving the dejected bunch behind her.

Perry took his hat back off. That had been their last hope. Their

only chance of rescuing Candace... and Linda's mom instincts had just shut it

down.

"Ferb."

Everyone turned toward the voice. Linda stood in the short hall

between the passenger area and the (rather crowded) cockpit, facing away from

the group.

"What?" Ferb asked.

Linda turned back and walked slowly toward the group, head down. She

knelt down in front of Ferb and grabbed his shoulders. She looked up into his

eyes. She was in tears.

"Ferb... can you really build a rocket?" she asked quietly.

He nodded.

"Can you bring my daughter back to me?" she whispered.

Ferb put his hand on his mother's shoulder, "I can..." he replied,

"but only if you'll let me."

Linda stared at him for a moment, then spoke, "Ferb, bring Candace

home and you can build wild creations all you want," she said unwillingly.

Ferb blinked in surprise. There was an incentive.

"Just promise me that you won't get hurt," she pleaded.

"I promise," he affirmed.

She hugged him, "Then go save her."

Perry jumped onto Ferb's shoulder.

"Are you going to help him, Perry?" Linda asked.

Perry growled. Linda stood and began walking back out of the cockpit,

but she stopped halfway through the hall, "And Ferb?"

"Yes?"

"Get Phineas and Isabella too, if you can."

Ferb rolled his eyes, "Okay."

The Flynn-Fletchers left the cockpit and returned to their seats.

Perry saluted Major Monogram and Carl as he left. He was still Agent P for

now... and he was about to embark on what could well have been the biggest

mission of his entire life. As everyone filed back to their seats, none of

them noticed that Stacy had moved from her seat in the back, and was now

sitting next to the hall that led to the cockpit.

"Perry's not the only one who's gonna help you Ferb," she muttered

under her breath, "Hold on Candace, I'm coming!"

Several hours later the exhausted Flynn-Fletchers arrived at what was

left of their house. The government had brought a trailer for them to stay in

while the house was being rebuilt. Ferb was too tired to begin work yet, so

he and his family rested for the rest of that day.

Stacy, however, seemed to have plenty of energy. She went to her own

house and began preparing. She gathered supplies, improvised weapons, clothes

and other things she needed or wanted for her rescue/revenge campaign,

sticking them in or on her dad's camping backpack.

Later that night, while the Flynn-Fletcher's were asleep, she snuck

into their yard and slept in Candace's tree house. When morning arrived, she

arose and began watching the backyard from her perch. She knew Ferb would

be coming out soon, and that once he started his rocket, even without Phineas'

help, he would probably be finished by late afternoon. Sure enough, he and

Perry came out later and got to work. It actually went up much faster than

Stacy had expected because Ferb already had the design in his project book.

He was done by lunchtime. He didn't blast off right away, though. He decided

to have one more meal with his mother and father before he left.

And that's when Stacy made her move.

She watched as Ferb and Perry went in the trailer for lunch. Once

they were inside, she climbed out of the tree house with her backpack and slunk

over to the rocket. Looking over at the trailer to make sure no one was

watching, she dashed up the stairs to the rocket's door and opened it. She

went inside and shut the door behind her. Once in the rocket she looked

around and found the cargo bay. She went and hid among some boxes of

dehydrated food and waited...

After lunch Ferb cleaned his dish and announced he was leaving. This

brought some objections from his parents.

"I was thinking..." Linda began, "maybe you should just send Perry...

apparently he's TRAINED to do things like this."

"He'll be coming with me," Ferb replied, "but only I know how to

operate the spacecraft."

"Perhaps we should come with you then..." Lawrence said.

"That would be good... but someone needs to stay and put our lives

back together. If I were to bring Candace back now all she'd come home to

would be a trailer and a twisted wreck," Ferb objected, "and we can't just

leave one of you here alone to do it. You'll need to support one another."

They were silent for a while.

"Ferb, are you sure you can do this? I don't want to lose you too."

Linda asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine. Besides, Perry will protect me."

Perry growled.

Ferb walked up to Linda and handed her a small device with a big

Screen, "You can use this to communicate with me. I'll call you now and then

to tell you what's happening."

"All right." Linda said sadly. She wasn't exactly thrilled that Ferb

was leaving her.

They were quiet again. Ferb eventually began heading for the front

door. His parents and Perry followed him as he left the trailer and walked

slowly to the backyard. He went and stood in front of the stairs.

"Are you going, then?" Lawrence asked.

Ferb nodded.

"Well then, take care, old chap," his father said quietly.

Linda went and embraced him, "Thank you," she whispered.

She let go and Ferb climbed the stairs and opened the rocket's door.

He turned and waved to his parents, who waved back, then went inside,

followed by Perry, and shut the door. Once inside, they suited up and went to

the cockpit. Ferb took one more look at his lonely-looking folks and then

pushed the launch button.

"Ten..." the computer said, "nine... eight... seven... six... five...

four... three... two... one... ignition!"

There was a tremendous roar. Linda and Lawrence ran back and shielded

their faces as the mighty rocket blasted skyward. When the dust cleared they

looked into the sky and watched as the rocket, and their last son, left them.

Linda burst into tears again. Lawrence pulled her close and continued to

watch, praying that his son would survive... and succeed.

In the cargo area, a certain stowaway threw a heavy box off herself

and groaned. Cargo was the wrong place to be when the rocket launched. No

seatbelts. Stacy had survived somehow, and now she was in space, and

hopefully, on her way to saving Candace.

And tanning Phineas' sorry hide.


	3. Chapter 3: Cosmic History Lesson

Chapter 3: Cosmic History Lesson

"Isabella! Are you all right?" Phineas came charging into the room

behind the crew.

Isabella was sitting on the floor, looking through it at the pinprick

that was now the ship the monsters had arrived on. She was rattled, but not

hurt.

"I'm fine..." she said, "but those monsters took Candace!"

Phineas looked startled, "What?"

"The prisoner that we kidnapped has been kidnapped," Hgtfpjsh said as

he walked in behind Phineas.

"What were those things?" Isabella asked nervously.

A random crew member answered her, "Those were the Alions, brutal,

vicious beasts and one of the greatest warrior races known to our people."

"What did they look like, Isabella?" Phineas asked.

"I- I don't know how to describe them. There's nothing on Earth that

looks quite like that. They were about as tall as you and they were thin and

they had these weird bat slash dragon type wings coming out of their backs.

They had a mouth sort of like an ant's, but there were three pincers instead

of two, and the pincers were long and thin, but it looks they were crazy

strong. One of them bit through the bars on Candace's cage."

Phineas screwed up his face, trying to imagine what she must've seen.

"So... bat wings, bug mouth with three pincers, about as tall as me..."

"And they had their eyes on top of stalks... like a snail... and they

had these tiny little noses that looked like... uh... well they were a few

inches long and only had one nostril. I think they had tails, and they kind

of walked upright... but not all the way, they were kind of leaned over like

this," Isabella stood up and bent heavily forward.

Phineas tried very hard to make the image in his head.

"They had hands too, and both their hands and feet had a lot of razor

sharp claws."

"Sounds gnarly," Phineas summarized.

"No kidding," Isabella replied, "Hg-t-fp-jsh, are they, um...

intelligent?"

"Amazingly, they are. They are as smart as any other sentient

creature, but even more than usual on matters of war and honor. They are also

very in tune with their animal instincts, as I'm sure you saw when they

attacked, and have tremendous brute strength. They're all-in-one physically,

mentally and spiritually strong."

"Wow," Isabella responded.

"I have a bit of a history lesson for you and Phineas, but I don't

think I should give it to you here. Go to Phineas' room and I'll meet you

there in a few minutes."

"What do you think they'll do with Candace?" Phineas asked curiously.

"I don't know, but unless she punches one of them they probably won't

hurt her. They raid our ships and break prisoners out all the time. They're

our enemies, obviously, so anyone sitting in one of our cells is pretty much

their friend."

Phineas seemed saddened by this, "So... what're we going to do about

it?"

"Probably nothing. You're free to look for her on your own time if

you wish, but no one in our empire is going to risk their necks against the

Alions to retrieve her. The only way we'd search for her is if she had some

kind of strategic value. Are you concerned for her safety?"

"Nah. I'm just mad that I can't get back at her now, at least until I

find her."

"Why is it that you're angry with her, if you don't mind my asking?"

"She destroyed my life. Ruined the thing that I cared about most."

"Which was?"

"What I'm about to do for you, only I didn't build weapons, I built

other stuff. That's why I hired on with you, so I could keep doing what I

love."

"I see... well, to your room. We have to take care of poor Tkgwz's

body."

"All right, then. Let's go Isabella," Phineas said, motioning for

her to follow him.

They walked in silence back to Phineas' room. Once they reached the

vibrating floor in the hall, they jumped up and climbed through a trapdoor in

the ceiling. It shut behind them.

"Huh... I was wondering how your room could be across the hall when-"

Isabella yiped as Phineas grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Don't scare me like that!" Phineas chided, sounding much more shaken

than he had a few moments earlier.

Isabella didn't get why he was hugging her, but she didn't exactly

object and returned the embrace, "What are you talking about?"

"Isabella, you could've been killed! I heard all this noise and

wondered what it was about, but then I heard you scream, and my heart dropped

like a rock."

"You were worried I'd get hurt?"

"I was afraid you would die! It didn't sound like anything was coming

out of that room alive! I just..."

Isabella smiled, "Aww, Phineas, you do care!" she said, hugging him

tighter.

"What would I have done if you'd died, Isabella? I would've been all

alone out here. I would have nothing to live for."

This surprised Isabella a little, "You'd have nothing left to live

for without me? What about all the wild things you build? What about getting

revenge on Candace?"

"It would all just seem so... hollow if you were dead... you're really

the only thing I have left."

The two of them let go and stepped back. They looked into each

other's eyes. Phineas still looked rattled. Isabella was giving him a dreamy

stare. Phineas smiled and chuckled.

"What?" Isabella asked.

Phineas gave her an exaggerated dreamy look.

"Oh," Isabella said, slightly embarrassed. She straightened up and

got her game face back on.

"You know, it occurs to me that you've been looking at me like that

for... ever," Phineas said, "How long have you had a crush on me for?"

Isabella's cheeks turned bright pink, "Crush?" she squeaked, "What do

you mean?"

"Don't give me that," Phineas groaned, "I didn't notice everything

else you did, but that kiss the other day wasn't exactly something I could

ignore."

Isabella was partly delighted that Phineas had finally noticed her,

and also completely terrified.

"Uh, um... well, like you said..." she fumbled.

"Forever?"

"Pretty much."

"Why didn't you say anything? Obvious, I mean?"

"Well, I kinda, hoped, ya know..."

"That I'd figure it out?"

"Yeah... why are you asking me all these questions if you already know

the answers?" Isabella retorted irritably.

Phineas laughed. "Hgt-fp-jsh, was right Isabella, you ARE cute."

Isabella blushed heavily, though she wasn't sure if he meant pretty or

pathetic. Probably both.

She didn't respond right away. Phineas watched her expectantly.

Isabella wasn't sure if she was mad that Phineas was teasing her or if she

liked it.

"Phineas..." she finally said, "be honest with me."

"Sure."

"You know that I like you," she admitted sheepishly.

"You mean, LIKE, like, right?"

"Yes, like like like like like like..." she muttered.

"Gee, how many likes does it take?"

"Oh, shut up..." she growled, still blushing furiously. Phineas

chuckled some more.

Isabella looked at the floor, totally embarrassed. Phineas looked

totally cool, "Well?" he finally said.

"Then... do you...?" Isabella's heart was pounding like a jackhammer.

"I'm not gonna finish this one for you, Isabella," Phineas dogged.

Isabella just couldn't seem to look Phineas in the eyes. She

struggled to speak, just to say two more words.

"...like me?"

"Of course I like you Isabella."

"Phineas!" she cried, "Oh, forget it, that probably is how you feel

about me. You LIKE me, and you JUST like me, and you'll ALWAYS just like me.

I'm going to my room," she began stomping for the trapdoor. The poor girl

still had her eyes locked to the floor.

"Isabella?"

"It's all right, I'll get over it," she growled, clearly NOT getting

over it.

"You didn't let me answer you."

"Well, what's your answer then?"

"My answer is that you're my best friend and that I'm glad you're here

with me."

"Oh, really? Is that why you humiliated me just now? Is that-oh

forget it, I'm out!" she bent her knees to spring out the trapdoor.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry," Phineas bumbled.

"Too late!" Isabella shouted.

"I-Ailuvyuisabella," Phineas mumbled.

She stopped, hearing a vague message in the muttering. She looked

back at Phineas, who was looking surprisingly ashamed of himself. She rolled

her eyes and walked back over to him. "Really?" she asked.

Phineas sighed and looked at her. "I-don't know," he said, "I mean, I

love you like my best friend... or like a sister... I'm just not sure if I-"

"You don't know if you like me THAT way..."

"Yeah... I mean, I THINK I might... a little..."

"Aww... wittle Phineas wikes me..." Isabella teased.

"Shut up," Phineas groaned, blushing slightly, "I'm really not sure if

I-"

"You like me Phineas, but you've never felt this way before so you

don't realize it."

"That's a strong assumption," he retorted.

Isabella gave him that seductive look again. She began striding

towards him, "I don't think so," she said sweetly.

Phineas was suddenly wishing Isabella was still mad at him for

embarrassing her. He backed away, "Isabella, no, not again!" he quipped.

She kept going until she had him cornered. She wrapped her arm behind

his neck and pulled him close. Phineas tried to turn away, but she turned his

face toward hers and-

Gave him a noogie.

"Ack! No! What the-?" Phineas grunted.

Isabella let go of him and laughed, "Dude, you should've seen your

face!"

Phineas glared as she continued to laugh at him. He looked over at

his bed and noticed the sort of pillow on it. He jumped on the bed, yanked it

up and leapt at Isabella, letting out a terrifying war yell.

"Oogeeloogeeloogeeloogeeloogeelooguh!" he roared. He caught

Isabella off guard and pounded her hard with the pillow. She buckled beneath

the blow, but grabbed Phineas and took him down with her. She then proceeded

to tickle him while the giggling Phineas tried to fend her off with the

pillow. The two friends screamed and laughed as they fought each other

idiotically for the next ten minutes, finally collapsing in the middle of the

floor, still laughing.

Once they'd calmed down a bit, Phineas spoke, "I'm sorry I teased

you Isabella. I really didn't-"

"Don't worry about it," she replied.

They were quiet for a bit.

"I'm glad you're with me Isabella," Phineas said again.

"Thanks... that means a lot to me," she replied.

"You know, Isabella, I've been thinking..."

"About what?"

"About love."

"That's a weird thing for a ten-year old boy to think about."

"Well, mostly in the past few seconds."

"Oh."

"I, at least according to you, don't know romance or anything, but I

think that there are two kinds of romantic love."

"Yeah?"

"In movies and stuff they always show true love as being all about

sloppy French kisses and... yeah, mostly that, actually. But I don't think

that's what true love is."

"What do you mean?"

"That stuff is crazy, fake love. It only lasts for a little while and

then the passion leaves and the love is gone. I think true love is deeper. I

think it's something completely different, and it has nothing to do with

kissing or hot dates or anything like that."

"What is it then?"

Phineas turned and looked Isabella in the eyes. He held her hand as

he answered.

"Friendship, Isabella. A deep, unconditional love for the other

person. That love, that kind of friendship, lasts forever."

Isabella stared at him. She smiled. "Yeah, I guess your right."

The two lay there, side by side, holding hands and gazing through the

clear roof into the endless stars, both of them feeling more peaceful and more

content than they ever had before.

"There's some one out here who's been waiting for me? For sixty-five

million years?" Candace asked.

"Trag," Xosizi replied, which, even without the communicator Candace

remembered meant yes.

"Isn't that when the dinosaurs died out?" Candace asked.

"Trag. A few thousand years before they were killed by the Tkpxzv-"

"Wait, WHO was killed by the WHAT?"

"You know those furry aliens that captured you?"

"Yeah..."

The Alion shook his head, "You should pick up the language, I hate

using communicators."

"Uhh... TRAG," Candace said too loudly.

"Hmmm... you got a heavy accent, but that's all right. Anyway, those

aliens are called the Tkpxzv. They destroyed the creatures you call the

dinosaurs, sixty-five million years ago."

Candace's eyes widened. "I thought it was a meteor..."

"Skirth ("no"). The Tkpxzv were fighting to conquer the Sol system.

Back then, there were two stars in your system. One, huge, rocky planet

orbited between them. On that planet you found the dinosaurs. About ten

thousand years before their destruction, they began to develop complex

technology. Various tribes and nations began to develop, and after about

nine thousand eight hundred years they gained the ability the travel into

space. It was a long time before they figured out interstellar flight,

which was developed the year they were destroyed.

"Wait, wait, what do you mean by interstellar?"

"They were able to leave their solar system."

"Oh."

"Unfortunately, as soon as they reached the stars, they ran into the

Tkpxzv. The Tkpxzv are an aggressive and powerful race, and this happened to

be the time of their empire's greatest expansion. Once they discovered

intelligent life in the Sol System they promptly moved to conquer it. They

sent a swarm of warships to the Sol System and attacked the giant planet. The

dinosaurs fought back, and even though they were poorly equipped they became

a major headache for the Tkpxzv. The Tkpxzv did take over the planet, but

there were so many rebellions and insurrections and the dinosaurs were so huge

and ferocious that they were eventually forced to abandon the planet. They

didn't leave peacefully, however. Before they left, they fired a powerful

beam at the planet which threw off it's orbit and sent it flying toward the

larger star. As the planet got close to the bigger star, the sudden heat up

caused the liquids inside the planet to boil, which, strange as it sounds,

made the planet explode. Some of the pieces flew back into the smaller star

and ripped it apart. Other pieces went into the big star and were consumed.

The remaining pieces began to orbit the large star, notably, five large

chunks. The chunks that began orbiting the big star became the four rocky

planets of the Sol System, and the third planet's moon."

"Mercury, Venus, Earth, its moon and Mars."

"Trag. The small star ripped into four stars that were too small to

be stars and thus became gas giants."

"Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune."

"Trag. Some of the smaller bits that survived slamming the small star

or got past it began orbiting the large star from the edge of the solar

system."

"Pluto?"

"I think that's in the area... and the remaining dust that began

orbiting the new 'Sun', as you called it, became a ring of asteroids."

"The asteroid belt."

"I guess. Anyway, the Tkpxzv figured that nothing could've survived

such a cataclysm, and they left the system to rot. However, before the planet

was destroyed, a small group of dinosaurs had jumped into a spacecraft and

escaped. They eventually landed on an unknown planet in an unknown system and

colonized it."

"So the dinosaurs survived?"

"One species... one tribe, survived."

"Which one?"

"The Candasaurs."

"That's not a dinosaur I've heard of."

"They look a lot like you."

"Really?" Candace furrowed her brow. She felt like she knew something

about this, but she didn't know why.

"The Candasaurs were the first dinosaurs to develop technology. They

were looking for Candace, the Red and White Goddess of Thunder.

"Huh?"

"They have an ancient tradition... a legend among them... actually

it's been so long most of them think it's a myth..."

"What does it say?"

"Long ago, the Candasaurs feared the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex. It

would hunt them and eat them. It made the Candasaurs, who were gentle,

fun-loving and peaceful, sad when he would kill their brothers and sisters and

their mothers and fathers."

Candace didn't like where this was going. Something was way too

familiar about all this, "Okay..." she said.

"The Candasaurs always had to hide in the tall grass so the

Tyrannosaurus wouldn't eat them. One day, the Tyrannosaurus was out hunting.

He found something and chased it. The thing ran into the tall grass where the

Candasaurs were hiding. The thing looked like them, but it was skinny, and it

had an orange frill and a red and white body."

Candace knew she'd heard this before... she just couldn't quite recall

where.

"When the thing ran into the Candasaurs, it screamed. The Candasaurs

thought it was calling them, and so they screamed too. The Tyrannosaurus saw

them, and he chased them, but he seemed especially interested in the red and

white thing. As the thing ran, two creatures, much smaller than it came up

next to it and spoke to it, calling it Candace. Candace jumped on the strange

animal the smaller creatures were riding and left."

"This seems so familiar... I know I've heard this story but I don't

know why!"

"So later, it started to rain. The Candasaurs ran and hid and the

Tyrannosaurus went back to his hunting. The Candasaurs saw Candace and the

two little creatures sitting next to a puddle of mud. The Candasaurs didn't

come out, but watched them closely. While they watched, something weird

appeared out of thin air next to Candace and the small creatures. A bunch

more small creatures were in the thing that had appeared, and Candace and the

two that were with her got in. Something went wrong with the thing though,

and Candace got out and picked up a long, snaky part of it. She started

yelling at the little creatures for some reason. Right then, the

Tyrannosaurus came up behind her and threatened all of them. The little ones

were scared, but Candace yelled and called down lightning from the sky. The

lightning hit all of them and they all disappeared with the Tyrannosaurus."

Candace worked her jaw. Where had she seen this?

"After that, the Candasaurs were safe from the Tyrannosaurus and they

were happy. They didn't have to stay in the brush all day, and their families

were safe, all thanks to Candace, the Red and White Goddess of Thunder."

Something fuzzy was coming back to Candace. Something she'd done

earlier that Summer...

"After that they revered and praised the goddess. They began trying

to build the things that she and the little creatures had brought with them,

and they looked and looked for her, wondering where she was now. This led to

the development of their technology and eventually all the technology the

dinosaurs gained. As their civilization grew, their religion formed around

this goddess and she gave their tribe their name, the Candace. As time

passed, other dinosaurs began using their technology and making new tribes.

A name was created to refer to all dinosaurs, and this name was added to the

end of the Candace tribe's name when referring to them in relation to other

tribes. That name, according to this communicator, translates into your

language as Candasaurus."

Candace thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up, "Oh... my...

gosh... this can't be real..."

"What?"

Candace fixed her hair a bit. She had to get it pointy on top. "Do

the Candasaurs have a horn on top of their heads and neck frills that-"

"Look EXACTLY like your head does right now? Trag."

"Do they have yellow eyes and light red skin?"

"Trag."

"Are they the same size as me?"

"About."

"Do they have two claws on their hands?"

"They have four, but they've evolved a bit. Sixty-five million years

ago they only had two."

Candace's heart was pounding. This was too ridiculous to be true.

No way this was real... it was just a coincidence...

"Do you have a picture of them?" Candace asked, not sure if she wanted

to see it.

The Alion responded by pulling out a small, square device. He spoke

into it and it lit up. A high, cheery voice came out of it.

And it was speaking plain english.

"Hi, Xosizi, what's up?"

Xosizi barked back in Alion.

"What? That's a myth. Let me see her though..."

Xosizi turned the screen toward Candace and confirmed her fears.

Earlier that Summer, her, Phineas and Ferb had gone back to the time

of the dinosaurs... and done exactly what the Candasaur myth had said, only,

Candace hadn't called down lightning... it'd just called itself down.

Isabella and the Fireside girls had come to rescue her, Phineas and Ferb, in a

time machine. They hadn't been able to return to the present

because the machine had needed to be plugged in. Candace had jumped out of

the machine, picked up the cord and begun railing on the group for their

stupidity. As she had, the T-rex had come up behind her, she'd randomly

gotten struck by lightning and that had sent them all home along with the

T-rex, which had then chased Candace through the museum and had tried to kill

her. Something had frozen the T-rex however, and it was standing in the

museum to this day, probably their coolest exhibit. While in the past,

Candace had hid in the brush, and seen a creature that looked just like the

one she was staring at now.

"AH!" Candace screamed.

"AH!" the creature screamed.

"I don't believe it! It's those 'me' dinosaurs!" Candace yelped.

"I don't believe it! It's Candace, the Red and White Thunder Goddess!

I didn't even think she was real!"

"Uh..." Candace blabbered.

"Wait..." the Candasaurus began, "her body is supposed to be red and

white... Xosizi, would you point me down?"

The grinning Alion turned the screen down so the Candasaur could see

the rest of her. Candace realized the Candasaurus wouldn't recognize her

because she was in her pajamas, which were purple. Wait... but she'd worn her

LONG pajamas that night because it had been cold in her room, and her long

pajamas were...

"Red... and white," the Candasaurus whispered in disbelief. She

looked up into Candace's eyes with wonder. The creature looked like a person

who'd had a dream they'd decided was impossible, then had suddenly reached it.

Candace and Candasaurus stared at each other, not knowing what to say.

"My arm's getting tired," Xosizi grunted.

"Uh... sorry," the Candasaurus said, looking at the ground "it's just

that... I'm so ashamed... I should've believed..."

"Stop whining and go tell your priest! This is the greatest day

in Candasaurus history!" Xosizi blurted.

The Candasaurus perked up, "Right! I should tell the priest." She

turned to dash off, but stopped and turned back. She looked sadly into

Candace's eyes. The two didn't speak.

"Um... what?" Candace finally asked.

The Candasaur didn't answer for a while.

"What?" Candace asked again.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I didn't believe in you, Goddess of Thunder."

"Goddess of Th-oh," Candace said, finally getting it.

"I know I don't deserve it, but, will you forgive me?"

"Sure," Candace replied nonchalantly.

The Candasaur looked ready to burst with delight. "Oh, thank you,

thank you Candace! Thank you!"

"Uh... yeah, whatever..."

The dinosaur turned to leave again.

"Hey!" Candace called.

The Candasaurus looked over her shoulder.

"What's your name?" Candace asked.

"I'm Candy," she replied.

"Short for Candace?"

"Nope, just Candy, but shouldn't you know that if you're a goddess?"

"Yeah... we're gonna have to talk about this 'goddess' thing when I

get over there," Candace groaned.

Candy blinked. Then she smiled and ran off to tell the priest what

was up. Xosizi pulled his arm back and turned the communicator off.

"That face you made when you saw Candy was comedy GOLD," an Alion

commented, talking to Candace. The other Alions had found communicators,

eager to talk to the newcomer.

"It-it was just... too weird," Candace responded, "I went back in time

once and saw the Candasaurs... and I did almost exactly what their myth says,

but I just got struck by lightning, I didn't call it down!"

"You're not a goddess, are you?" Xosizi said flatly.

"No, I just got caught on a time machine by mistake."

"Hmm... that makes sense..." another Alion said.

"It does?"

"Time machines are outlawed for safety reasons, but incidents happen

now and again," the Alion clarified.

"You guys have time machines?"

"Well, let's just say, if you have it, we've got something way past

it," Xosizi replied.

Candace sat back against the wall. She definitely wasn't in Danville

anymore.

"Those Candasaurs are going to be disappointed," one of the Alions

said, "their prophets told them the Thunder Goddess was coming to save them."

"We'd kind of hoped they were right, too, even though we're not of

their faith," someone else added.

"What?" Candace asked worriedly.

Xosizi looked at her, "You've fufilled a prophecy, Candace.

The Candasaur prophets have long said that when the Tkpxzv discovered them

again, they would come to destroy them, but you would finally return and save

them."

Candace turned white.

The Alions didn't need more response than that. They knew what she

was thinking. Xosizi continued, "The Tkpxzv found the Candasaurs only days

ago, and they've already nearly conquered their planet. All of it has been

laid waste except for their capital, CandaceCity, and that's only still

there because we're down there trying to protect them. You see, the

Candasaurs are no more warriors than they were sixty-five million years ago.

They're kind, gentle, fun-loving creatures. They really have no weapons."

"Wait, the Tk-px-zuv are just killing a helpless race?"

"Well, they would enslave them, but they refuse to give up their

liberty, even though they can't win. They called us to help them. We... can

protect ourselves from the Tkpxzv, but we're not strong enough to defend them

too. That's why many Candasaurs, and a lot of us, I may add, have been

praying, pleading with the heavens for mercy, begging them to send their last

forlorn hope..."

"Me, Candace, the so-called Red and White Goddess of Thunder," Candace

finished.

The Alions looked at her sadly. "It seems the heavens have heard...

but all they did was show the Candasaurs that they were delusional and they've

been believing in a false god. The heavens sent their goddess to destroy

their last hope. No offense."

"None taken," Candace replied, "there's nothing I can do to help them

defeat an evil alien empire."

"Trag..." Xosizi grunted sadly, "it's a real shame. When this race is

enslaved, a rare beautiful light in this dark galaxy will be extinguished. All

good races will mourn their loss."

"What's so special about them?"

"We, the Alions, are warriors, the Candasaurs are not, but we respect

them and care for them. They are one of the most... how do I put this? GOOD

races out there. Take Candy, for example, what'd you think of her?"

"Uh... well..." Candace thought, "she seemed nice... humble too."

"The Candasaurs are like children. NICE children. It's disgraceful

that anyone would be willing to hurt them. I swear they don't know how to

hate anybody. They love and shelter everyone they come in contact with. All

they want is for everyone around them to be happy. I've never seen such a

innocent, loving race. Heaven surely sent them to comfort the

suffering masses of the galaxy."

"Kind of reminds me of Phineas before he turned evil," Candace

muttered, "They're that nice, huh?"

"Just wait till we get to CandaceCity. You'll see what I mean."

"Can't wait..." Candace replied, intrigued.

They were silent for a while.

"Hey... Candace, right?" an Alion asked her.

"Yeah, I mean, Trag," she responded.

"How did you end up in that prison cell?"

Candace sighed. It was a long story...

It was a long time before Hgtfpjsh came to the room (funerals take a

while). Phineas and Isabella had stared into the stars for ages. It

was weird to Phineas to actually see the star field change as they went. This

spaceship must have been going incredibly fast. More amazing still was that,

despite it's speed, space was still so big that it was taking them a very long

time to get where they were going.

"You know Isabella, I think we're going faster than light right now,"

Phineas remarked, "I guess it is possible."

"Yeah..." Isabella replied.

The two lay next to each other in silence, still staring through the

clear ship.

"I'm bored," said Isabella.

"Me too," Phineas agreed, "when's Hgtfpjsh gonna get back?"

"I can't believe you just said his name right!" Isabella cried.

"Did I? Wow! I didn't-"

There was a loud thump as a large Tkpxzv leapt into the room.

"Hgt-t-fup-jish!" Isabella tried to match Phineas' feat, failing

miserably, "We were just talking about you!"

"Wondering when I'd get here? Yeah, I heard you," Hgtfpjsh replied.

Phineas and Isabella sat up and looked at the huge mop, "So... what'd

you want to tell us?" Phineas asked.

"I just wanted to give you some... background. The Alion attack kind

of demands an explanation."

"Yes, yes it does," Isabella agreed.

"Well... I guess I'll just start... as you've probably guessed, we're

at war with the Alions."

"Seems logical," Phineas said.

Hgtfpjsh continued, "We've been at war with them for hundreds of

years. Long ago, as our empire stretched through this, what you call the

Orion arm of the galaxy we ran across them. Every race that we had fought

against, up to that point, we had been able to defeat. Some were strong, some

were not, but all of them fell to our fathers."

"So... you're kind of like the Roman Empire from ancient history?"

Isabella asked.

Hgtfpjsh thought a moment, "I'm not sure what you're talking about...

hold on..." Isabella and Phineas looked at one another as he closed his eyes

and paused for several seconds. He smiled.

"Yes... we are similar... in some ways... you could liken us to them

for the sake of your understanding..."

"What did you do just now?" Phineas wondered.

"I was checking the shmpthrlf's mind to see what the Roman Empire

was."

Isabella recognized his alien pet name for her. "You scanned my mind?

How?"

"We, the Tkpxzv, have psychic abilities... they have aided us in our

dominance of the Orion arm. They are also how we're able to speak your language.

Don't worry though... I can scan your minds for information, but I don't have the

skill to discover anything you wish to hide. I can only get general, you might say,

UNCLASSIFIED data from you."

"So if I don't want you to know something you can't yank it from my

brain?" Isabella asked.

"Correct."

"That's comforting."

"Anyway, yes... you can compare us to this primitive empire. We have

conquered much and have brought order, peace and a high quality of life to

this part of the galaxy... except for this one, stubborn holdout."

"The Alion's world?" Phineas guessed.

"There are several races, actually. They own several worlds and call

themselves the 'Alliance of Free Races' but really it's the Alions. Our

fathers were unlucky enough to meet the foul race before they reached the

others in the area. Had they met the other races first, they would have

overcome them easily. As such, they met the Alions first and invited them to

join with us and partake in the glory of our race. The Alions chose to retain

their independence. Since unity, peace and prosperity cannot come to a

divided galaxy, our fathers sent forth their armies to subject them."

"And?" Isabella asked.

"Our fathers... how do I say this... all the thousands of races they

and their fathers and their grandfathers had fought against were inferior to

them... they had fought strong enemies, but these Alions gave them a surprise.

When their spacecraft attacked the Alion homeworld, they met an enemy that was

as intelligent, strong and unyielding as they were. Used to being smarter and

better equipped than their enemies, our fathers were not properly prepared for

the traps, stubborn defense and remarkably good weapons the Alions had ready

for them. Just as they came into shooting range of the Alion's capital city,

all of our fathers' craft began to malfunction. Their communications were

being jammed and their weapons suddenly went offline. Our fathers were

confused. Their craft had great protection against jamming technology. They

didn't understand how anything could jam their systems. Well, the craft were

protected from outside jamming signals. No one ever thought that their

enemies would stow away in the ships and send jamming signals from inside...

which is why the Alions did exactly that."

"Wait, the Alions got on their ships?" Phineas asked.

"Yes. The Alions had sent their spies and discovered our fathers'

plans. It seems the spies investigated their technology and battle tactics

and devised a plan to beat them. Their spies stowed away in our fathers'

craft before they took off. They carried signal jammers with them and used

them at the planned moment."

"Pretty sneaky," Phineas commented.

"I hate to admit it, but it was," Hgtfpjsh growled, "While our fathers

tried to fix their craft, all sorts of defenses began firing from the ground,

and a ton of Alion warcraft suddenly appeared out of thin air on all sides.

They had used their cloaking devices to prepare an ambush. Our fathers were

further befuddled by this since their ships had a special radar to detect

cloaked objects... unfortunately those systems had been sabotaged by the Alion

spies before their craft had even left."

"So, they were surrounded and completely defenseless?" Isabella

observed.

Hgtfpjsh kind of shrugged and said, "Yeah. The Alions tore them apart

like a bunch of dead leaves. Normally our fathers would have banded together

and used their psychic abilities to fight back, but because they were already

confused, and because they couldn't contact one another with the signal jam,

and because they were suddenly under full attack, no one could concentrate

long enough to use their abilities. The lucky ones got blown up in the air,

and the unlucky ones crashed and survived long enough to have the Alions on

the ground come and literally rip their guts out."

"That's awful!" Isabella yiped.

"That's what our fathers thought. They'd never met such a ruthless

enemy. They'd always steamrolled everyone so nothing like that had ever

really happened to them. The Alions let a few of our fathers live, however.

Any guess as to why?"

"No idea," Phineas replied, deciding not to try and figure it out.

"They needed witnesses. They let five of our fathers live so they

could send them back to their people and tell them how they'd been outwitted

by the Alions, how they'd watched their friends scream in agony as they were

torn to pieces and eaten by the cruel beasts and so they could show them that

the Alions had gouged out all but one their eyes, and torn each of their right

arms out of their sockets, and so they could sport all the gashes and injuries

and torture they'd endured at the hand of their foes."

"Eesh," Isabella said.

"Well... those five survivors came back to their superiors on an Alion

ship, mutilated and insane from trauma. Our fathers' rulers were outraged and

sent a stronger army to destroy the Alions. The Alions beat them again, and

did even more horrible things to them than they did to the first group. The

survivors of that attack returned on an Alion ship, mutilated and insane from

trauma. Our rulers were even angrier, and prepared for a third attack, but

before they could do that, the Alions attacked one of THEIR worlds and

captured its capital city. They subjected the inhabitants to all manner of

horrors before an army arrived to retake the city. However, the Alions didn't

fight, but left just as the army showed. All they left was a message, carved

into an unfortunate citizen's back. He didn't die, but he lived forever with

the scars and the memory. The message said:

We were created by the devil. We came from hell. We have brought

hell to this city. These people now know what hell is like, and

soon, you will too, unless you withdraw.

THE ALIONS

Most courageous people would not have been shaken by this message, but

our fathers saw the city and what had been done to it's inhabitants and

realized the Alions could, in very fact, deliver on their threat. Word spread

quickly through the empire and all knew that anyone who fought the Alions was

doomed to suffer an excruciating death. The rulers began

to organize another attack, but discovered that their troops refused to obey.

All across the empire, none could be found who would face these demons from

the underworld."

"So the Alions won the war by scaring your fathers?" Isabella asked.

"Yes. The rulers were forced to accept defeat because everyone was

too scared of the Alions. They moved on and conquered other races, but the

Alions were never destroyed. Later rulers have gotten armies together and

attacked the Alions, but they always meet disaster, and the general fear of

the Alions among our people is worsened."

Everyone was silent. Phineas and Isabella were stunned by the horror

story. Hgtfpjsh didn't seem to have more to say.

"Hey... didn't you say they were allied with some other races?"

Phineas finally asked.

"Oh yeah... when our Rulers moved on to conquer some other races who

lived near the Alions, the Alions intervened in the conflicts and saved many

of them. They figured that anyone who was against us was for them... and the

races they protected seem to agree. Now they have their Alliance of Free

Races. The only race that has any real might among them, however is the Alion

race. The Alliance simply consists of the races that the Alions are

protecting from us. If the Alions were destroyed, the rest of the alliance

would be annihilated within an Earth week. It's kind of like the UN... there

are a lot of countries in it, but if anything hard needs to be done they all

go hide behind your country and hope that it'll save them... quite pathetic,

by the way..."

"You said it," Phineas groaned.

"So... the Alions have created a sort of counter-empire to ours. It's

much smaller, but we haven't destroyed it yet."

"I see," said Isabella.

They were quiet for a bit.

"Hmm..." Hgtfpjsh grunted, "That was all I had, really. I'd better

get back to commanding this craft."

"Okay," Phineas and Isabella said.

Hgtfpjsh turned and hopped down the trapdoor, leaving Phineas and

Isabella alone again.

"Pretty evil-sounding bunch," Isabella said, referring to the Alions.

"Yeah," he agreed.


	4. Chapter 4: Race for the Redhead

Chapter 4: Race for the Redhead

Ferb and Perry looked out the window as Mars swung by in a matter of

seconds. The rocket was steadily gaining speed. It would have to get past

the speed of light if they planned to catch up to Phineas during their

lifetimes. Ferb was waiting to hit light speed before he began his search for

Phineas and the ship he'd left on. Ferb was pretty sure it wouldn't take long

to find it. Besides the fact that the rocket's instruments had picked up the

rift in the solar wind it had caused, Ferb had a secret weapon up his sleeve.

Perry glanced at Ferb. The ride had been totally silent. Ferb never

talked, and he COULDN'T talk. He looked back out the window and watched

Jupiter whiz past. He was getting bored.

Ferb looked at the control panel. They were close... there, light

speed. He got up and floated over to a small closet. He

opened it up and pulled out a large cylinder that Perry recognized as Phineas'

SETI device.

"I picked this up, just in case," Ferb said to Perry.

Perry gave him a thumbs up.

Ferb floated back to his chair. He knew how Phineas thought, so it

didn't take him long to figure the device out. He quickly found the signal

for the ship Phineas had called and... called it. He waited a moment.

Hgtfpjsh sat next to his craft's control panel. Nothing new had

happened since his talk with Phineas and Isabella. Suddenly, his

communicator, which was on the control panel and not unlike a cell phone,

started going off. He picked it up and a voice called out of it.

"Uhh... hello?" Ferb asked uncertainly.

The device didn't respond at first, then a rough voice answered, "Are

you a human? This is the same signal as Phineas' communicator."

"I'm Phineas' brother, Ferb. I wish to speak with him."

"His brother? I'll call him."

The line went dead for a bit. Ferb and Perry exchanged quizzical

looks. They waited patiently.

"He's coming," the voice said.

"Okay...uh, thanks?" Ferb replied.

No answer. The two waited some more. They finally heard what sounded

like shuffling, then...

"Ferb? Is that you?" Phineas' voice asked.

"Yes, it's me."

"It looks like you picked up my SETI device!"

"I did. I'm calling you-"

"Yeah, I know, you want Candace back, problem is, we just lost her."

"She's dead?" Ferb cried in disbelief.

"What? No, no, she got kidnapped by an alien race that attacked this

spaceship!"

"You mean to tell me she got kidnapped AGAIN?"

"Might be more like rescued, depending on how you look at it."

"How do I know you aren't lying to me?"

"He's not. I saw the whole thing!" Isabella's voice chimed.

"Isabella? Is that you?"

"Yes!

"Hmm... I don't know if I trust you either..."

The rough voice came back, "You got a video feed over there?"

"Yes..."

"Our craft has the event stored in memory. What's the feed signal?"

Ferb gave it to him and he sent the video, which uploaded into the

rocket's computer and played onscreen. Sure enough, it showed a bunch of

freaky-looking aliens breaking in, killing a furry creature, and capturing

Candace while Isabella cowered on the floor.

"Now do you believe us?" Phineas asked.

Ferb sighed, "Yes... do you have any idea where these creatures are?"

"They flew off for the binary stars you call Luyten A and B, but it

was probably a feint to throw us off their trail. Their home world is in the

Epsilon Eridani system, however, I must forbid you to go there," the rough

voice said.

"Why?"

"We cannot risk humans allying with those races. If you were to go

there, we would have to hunt you down and kill you, if the inhabitants didn't

kill you themselves."

"I have no interest in starting an interstellar war. I merely want my

sister back."

"Hey, if you go to get her, then I'm going to go get her first!"

Phineas warned.

"I guess it's a race then," Ferb said flatly.

"Cool!" Phineas replied.

"No! I order you to stay out of that system... wait... how are you

going to get there?" the rough voice asked.

"He probably rebuilt one of the rockets we built earlier this Summer,"

Phineas informed him.

"You are correct, Phineas," Ferb said, "See you in the Epsilon Eridani

system!"

With that, Ferb turned the device off. He was sure the rough voice,

probably an alien, was very angry at the moment.

"Epsilon Eridani. At least she's in the neighborhood. It's only, oh,

around ten or fifteen light-years away," Ferb commented.

Perry growled.

"Oh, Phineas, what have you gotten me into?" Hgtfpjsh groaned. He

barked into his communicator in his own tongue. Soon another Tkpxzv was on

the other end of the line, chatting with Hgtfpjsh in their all-consonant

language. Phineas and Isabella stared at him, wondering what he and the other

guy were saying. Finally he put the communicator down and turned to them.

"I really wish you would've left your sister behind..." Hgtfpjsh

whined, "That was the governor I was just speaking with. He seems to like

your decision to chase after her..."

"What do you mean?" Phineas wondered.

"Our armies are currently trying to conquer a planet inhabited by a

race that is living in the same system as the Alions. He decided that your

first mission will be to build a weapon to help them defeat the Alion force

protecting their planet... and while you're at it, you can go look for your

sister."

"Cool!" Phineas replied.

"No, it's not 'cool'!" Hgtfpjsh ranted, "Did you not hear what I said

about the Alions? We absolutely do not want to face these creatures! Oh, I

hope I live to see my wife again..."

Phineas didn't seem phased, "I guess I have a weapon to design!

C'mon, Isabella! I know what we're gonna do today!"

Isabella wasn't sure if she was glad to hear that again or not. It

was good to hear it, but he was going to design something that she assumed

would be used to kill people-or aliens-or something... then again though, the

Alions sort of seemed like a group that might deserve it... whatever. She

followed Phineas out of the room and left poor Hgtfpjsh to flip out. Soon the

Tkpxzv got a hold of himself and bent his ship's course for Epsilon Eridani.

They had been heading to Sirius, which was in the same general direction, so

they had a big head start on Ferb. He estimated they'd be at the front line

within... Earth units, thirty hours.

"Forget everything else... focus on what you hate the most."

Candace breathed deeply and concentrated on... everything that had

happened to her since she'd busted Phineas and Ferb. It was making her

miserable... but it was also making her angry... at Phineas... yes... he had

caused her misery... and the pharmacist guy too... him...

"Let the pain, the anguish, and the wrath build within you."

She could just see Phineas' smug little triangle face, just enjoying

watching her suffer... watching her FAMILY suffer... Candace began gritting

her teeth.

"Good. What do you hate?"

"I hate... well I don't-"

"Right now, you do."

"Okay... I hate uh... what my brother did to me... I hate his wicked

little grin and I-"

"Yes... good... and you?"

"I want to punch that stupid smirk right off his face."

"Don't you want to take it further? Maybe throw him across the room?"

"Or tear his head off?"

"Why don't I walk you through the process. Arise, see what is before

you."

Candace stood and opened her eyes. A big alien stuffed animal stood

in front of her. It had rips and tears and other damage everywhere.

"We brought your brother here... just for you."

Candace grinned devilishly, "I see."

"You wanna hurt him?"

"Oh yeah."

"You gonna take his head off?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then, short punch!"

Candace delivered a very hard quick punch to the dummy.

"What was that, sis? You hit like a girl!"

"Oh!" Candace snapped. She gave the dummy a crushing pummel whack

before realizing the taunt would've only been insulting if she had been male.

"Aww, wittow sissy's mad. How cute!"

"Shut up!" Candace roared, drawing her fist back.

"Don't punch me yet! I have to walk you through."

Candace's eye twitched as she restrained her boiling rage.

"Wait... not yet..."

Candace's temperature was rising. She thought she could feel smoke

coming out of her ears.

"GO! Stop! I was just kidding, wimp. You're really unpopular by the

way. Everyone hates you."

Candace's face was getting red. She wanted to hit this guy so bad.

"But most of all... you're worthless. Face it. You'll never get

home. You'll never beat me. You could save your family, but not yourself,

and you only saved them because someone else came and saved your sorry hind

end. Face it... you're alone, you're lost... and you don't matter. If you

died no one would care."

These ones hurt. She was sort of worried they might be at least

partly true. Candace was trying so hard not to hit the thing...

"Long punch!"

Candace roared and fired her hardest punch yet into the dummy.

"Useless wimp! You can't even hurt me and I'm half your size!"

Candace started to punch but caught herself.

"Gonna punch again without orders? What a moron. You can't do

anything right."

Candace gritted her teeth in fury.

"Front kick!"

BAM! Candace kicked the stuffed animal as hard as she could.

"So weak. Man, I'm gonna get Ferb down here to show you how it's

done."

Candace was tired of insults. She waited for the signal, and

waited... and waited... she stared at the dummy... this was torture... she

could almost see Phineas' face sneering at her...

"Tired of this?"

"Yeah," Candace replied.

"Tell you what, sis, give me your best shot, just so I can tell you

how weak you are afterward, but only use the techniques or you'll be even more

pathetic than you already are."

Candace yelled furiously and kicked the dummy even harder. Then she

gave it about a dozen quick short punches, followed by a few long ones, some

more kicks and an angry bite.

"That's all? I'll bet a Fireside Girl hits harder than this!"

Candace picked up the dummy and threw it across the room.

"*YAWN* Lame. Weren't you gonna tear my head off or something? Why

don't you-"

Candace was on it already. She grabbed the dummy with both hands and

growled savagely as she pulled on it's head. Fiber stretched and a tearing

noise ripped through the room as she tore the poor thing's head off its

fluffy body then threw it on the ground and unleashed a primal roar.

All around the room the Alions cheered and clapped.

"Not bad, not bad at all!" commended Xosizi, who had been coaching

Candace and pretending to be Phineas, "Go measure that, Yar!"

Yar, another Alion, took a small machine and scanned the ruined dummy.

Then he scanned Candace, who was looking very proud of herself.

"Damage relative to body strength: forty-six!" Yar reported.

"Well, done, Candace! That's the highest first-time score I've ever

seen!" Xosizi praised.

"Why thank you!" she replied, "Great exercise!"

"We use it for our children to help them focus their anger. Without

focus, no level of rage will help you in battle, it will only destroy you,"

Xosizi said, "But when it is focused, it becomes your most deadly weapon."

Candace and the Alions were still on their ship, heading for the

Candasaurus planet. Candace had told them a bunch of things about her life,

but when she was done, they were still far from their destination. To pass

the time, the Alions had decided to teach Candace some of their fighting

techniques.

"We've got a potential soldier here, Xosizi!" Yar commented.

"Fire spirits are great warriors... once they master their passions."

"What's a 'fire spirit'?" Candace asked.

"A flaming ghost," Yar replied.

"No, what Xosizi was talking about?"

"You mean a fiery ghost?" Xosizi said unhelpfully. He chuckled at

Candace's frustrated growl.

"They're fun to tease too," he said, "Everyone has a spirit, Candace.

Our people have classified them into several kinds. Fire spirits are

energetic, passionate, and usually have bad tempers."

"So, you're saying I'm a fire spirit?"

"Well, if your personality hadn't clued us in your hair certainly

would have."

Candace held a piece of her red hair in front of her face and smiled.

"So, what're you?"

"I'm a water spirit, wise, cool and relaxed... for an Alion, anyway."

Xosizi responded.

"What're you, Yar?" Candace asked, turning to him.

"Me? Techno spirit. I'm what you call an engineer."

"You guys have a separate nerd spirit?"

"There's a lot of different kinds," Xosizi replied.

"How many?" Candace pried.

"Don't know. There's a lot."

"Oh."

There was silence for a while. With the exercise completed, they were

running out of things to do. Two of the Alions finally got up and began

sparring with one another, though, with the ferocity of it anyone could have

mistaken it for a real fight. Candace watched them quietly, silently rooting

for the guy on her left, though not for any reason. Her stomach growled.

"Do you have anything to eat on this thing?" she wondered.

An Alion opened a compartment in the wall and pulled out something

that looked like a huge red chicken leg. He threw it at her.

"Oomph!" Candace said, catching it in the gut.

"How's that?" he asked her.

Candace picked it up and studied it carefully. For alien food, it

didn't look bad... she took a bite out of it.

"Mmm..." she said, "tastes like bacon."

"It's Tkpxzv meat," the Alion said proudly, "very good."

Candace cringed a little when she realized she was eating one of the

furry aliens she'd seen earlier... but, at least it wasn't human meat or

something.

The hours passed slowly. Xosizi tried to give Candace some lessons in

Alion language. Candace also attempted to teach him some English, which

reminded her of a strange anomaly from earlier.

"Hey, how was Candy speaking English?" Candace asked.

"They get everything from their prophets," he replied, "That must be

what they taught them."

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. Finally the pilot

announced that they were there. Candace couldn't see where they were since

there were no windows, but she felt the craft turn sharply and she and the

other Alions were flung against the wall as the ship began barreling down

through the planet's atmosphere. After a minute the craft stopped, a bit too

abruptly, and threw Candace and the Alions to the garbage covered floor.

"The Blaster has landed!" the pilot yelled from the cockpit.

"This is it, Candace. We're on Trisaria, the Candasaurs' home planet,

and at their capital city!" Xosizi cried.

Candace gulped. This was going to be a weird experience. Just the

thought of a city full of those strange dinosaurs made her brain do

somersaults.

The door fell off the wall and slammed to the ground outside with

an unceremonious thud. Candace gave Xosizi a funny look.

"We'll put it back on," he responded, "ready?"

"Sure," Candace said with a shrug. She followed the Alions as they

jumped out of their spaceship and onto the landing pad outside. Candace was

last. She hesitated before she jumped. She closed her eyes, took a deep

breath and hopped out.

There was a gasp... not from Candace.

Candace landed, stood straight and looked around her.

Surrounding her were dozens of wide-eyed, staring Candasaurs.

"Mommy, is that really her?" a small Candasaur asked.

"I-I think so," his mother replied.

Candace gazed around at the awestruck Candasaurs. She felt really

uncomfortable, to say the least. Most people would if they had fifty big-eyed

freaks looking at them.

Candace dimly noticed the Alions to her side. They seemed to be

enjoying the moment.

"Awkward, isn't it?" Xosizi whispered amusedly to Candace.

The Candasaurs stared for another ten seconds... Candace fidgeted.

"You should probably say something," Xosizi prodded.

"Uh..." Candace grunted, "Hi?"

Some of the Candasaurs blinked.

"Can I talk to her mommy?" the little Candasaur asked.

"Ummm... I don't know-" the mother began.

"Yes, come over here, PLEASE. All of you! Do something!" Candace

interjected.

"The Red and White Goddess of Thunder has returned at last!" a Candasaur

yelled.

"I never thought I'd live to see this day!" another one cried.

A general roar of excitement erupted from the gathered crowd. Candace

heaved a sigh of relief, grateful that the silence had been broken. Something

tugged on her pajamas. Candace looked down.

The small Candasaur gazed up at her, "Are you really Candace?" he

asked.

"Yes, yes I am," she responded.

"Are you going to save us from the Tkpxzv?"

"Um... well... I don't think I can."

"Please Candace? You have to! They killed my daddy and my sister!"

Candace's heart stopped. She stared at the child, unable to answer.

"They blew up our house too... and they-"

"Viljon, that's enough... Candace is tired," the mother's voice said.

Candace looked up and saw the mother standing behind the child. She

bent over and picked him up.

"Forgive him, Thunder Goddess, he's just-" she began.

"Is it true?" Candace interrupted.

The mother Candasaur stared into Candace's eyes for a few seconds.

Candace noticed the crowd had hushed again. They were staring at her and the

mother.

Tears filled the mother's eyes, "Yes..." she whispered shakily, "My

husband and my little girl..." she broke down and wept miserably, "They're

dead..."

Candace looked around at the other Candasaurs. She could see the hurt

in their eyes... she realized most of them had lost loved ones to the Tkpxzv.

She also could see a faint hope in their eyes... and she knew that hope was,

unfortunately, her.

Candace stared at the crying Candasaur. She was in a rotten

predicament. She was the last, lonely, thin chance these aliens had... but

the simple fact was, she wasn't the almighty goddess they thought.

"Xosizi..." Candace whispered, "What should I do? I can't abandon

them, but I can't help them either!"

Xosizi blinked, "I'm a warrior Candace. I believe in honor, and I

believe in bravery. I wouldn't pretend to be something I'm not, but I wouldn't

take the path of the coward, either."

"Are you going to save us, Candace?" the child pleaded again.

Candace looked at the kid uncertainly. His eyes begged her to say

Yes. In fact, the whole crowds' eyes were begging her to say yes.

"What makes you think I can?" she countered.

"You did it before, didn't you?"

"I got struck by lightning while holding the cord to a time machine,

if that's what you mean."

The crowd gasped. Candace sighed. Yep, she'd just done it. She'd

told them the truth. Candace saw the last hope puff out in the Candasaurs'

eyes.

"So you didn't call down lighting?" the kid asked.

"No. That was a fluke," Candace said flatly.

"So... you're not a goddess?" a Candasaur cried.

"All those stories were LIES?" another one yelled.

"Well, they did happen... I'm just not a Thunder Goddess... I'm a

normal person!" Candace replied.

The Candasaurs stared at her in disbelief for five full seconds.

"Well, I guess that's it. We're doomed!" someone in the crowd yelled.

An unhappy murmur rose from the crowd. The kid was still looking at

Candace. She looked back down at him.

"You didn't answer my question," the child said.

"What's that?" Candace responded.

"You didn't tell me if you were going to save us."

This kid was either really naive or hopelessly optimistic.

"I'm just a normal person, I can't do anything for you!"

"You saved our grandmas and grandpas from the T-rex, why not from the

Tkpxzv?"

"I just got lucky! I can't do that again!"

"Yes you can! You're Candace! You can do anything! The heavens sent

you here to save us!"

"Kid, I'm really-" Candace stopped as she felt something tap her. She

turned to see Xosizi looking up at her.

"Children are very wise Candace. You should listen to the little

one," he said.

"But he's wrong! I can't-"

"The greatest war the soldier fights is not on the battlefield, but

within himself. Or herself."

"What?"

"The prize of victory in this, the hardest of wars, is to know

oneself."

"What are you saying? I don't do metaphors."

"You better start doing them if you want to be a warrior."

"Who said I want to be a warrior?"

"Only the strongest will conquer in this war. Most fail because they

lose the faith they had when they were children."

"Meaning?"

Xosizi reached up and pulled Candace's face right in front of his.

His freaky stalk eyes drilled holes through her.

"Think a little. Maybe you'll figure it out."

She thought. It didn't help.

"I give up," she said.

Xosizi rolled his eyes. "Candace, without faith, you will never learn

who you truly are."

Finally, she got it. Maybe it was because he said it plainly. Yeah,

that was probably why. It struck a chord, too. She suddenly remembered her

dream with robe Candace. She could hear the wraith's voice in her mind.

"Find the truth, Candace, then, and only then will you be able to draw

this picture," Robe Candace whispered.

Candace just stood, staring into Xosizi's eyes. He let go of her and

she straightened up. She stared into the sky, which was red, by the way, not

sure if she could muster up the faith to believe in something so ridiculous.

She finally looked down at the kid.

"I guess I can try to help..." she muttered.

The child seemed pleased by this. He smiled and hugged his mom.

"Candace?" a familiar voice called.

Candace looked over, recognizing the voice of Candy, the Candasaur

she'd seen earlier.

"What?" Candace responded.

"The High Priest and the President want to see you," she said.

"Good! Let's get rolling I'm sick of standing here!" Xosizi barked.

He and the other Alions tramped after Candy. Candace followed behind them.

The now-hopeless Candasaurs watched as they left, feeling about as good as a

dog turd smells.


	5. Chapter 5: What are You Running From?

Chapter 5: What Are You Running From?

Isabella was sitting on the floor, wearing a metal helmet. The helmet

was wired to a small machine Phineas had made. Isabella wasn't sure what

Phineas was building. She'd prodded him a little, but he told her he wanted

to see if it worked first. She looked nervously at Phineas' creation,

wondering what it would do to her. Phineas wouldn't test something on her

that he thought would hurt her... would he? She didn't think so. What she

was really concerned her was what might happen if it didn't work.

She stared at the small contraption. She laughed at herself

internally. What was she worried about? It really didn't look dangerous. It

was little more than a weak battery hooked to a small computer, from what she

could see. What was the worst it could do? Beep at her?

Phineas was sitting on the ground in front of it. He tapped a few

keys, muttering to himself.

"Okay... that's it. It should work now," he mumbled.

"Whatcha doin'?" Isabella asked, a tinge of worry in her voice.

"You're about to find out. Don't take off the helmet!" he grinned.

"Phineas what are you-?"

Phineas punched a key. Isabella was suddenly elated. She smiled

broadly and laughed out loud. She leapt to her feet and gave a whoop.

"Wow! I don't know why, but I feel terrific!" Isabella yelled. She

began joyfully singing disco music and doing the hustle, utterly baffled by

her sudden burst of emotion.

Phineas chuckled. He punched another key.

Isabella's smiled wiped right off her face. She bared her teeth then

yelled furiously, her face contorted with rage.

Phineas laughed, "You're cuter when your mad." he said obnoxiously.

"WHAT!" Isabella roared, "YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?"

That made Phineas laugh harder.

"I'M GONNA PUMMEL YOU INTO NEXT YEAR!" Isabella screamed. She drew

back her fist and ran at the giggling Phineas. He punched another button.

Isabella suddenly stopped. Tears filled her eyes and her countenance

broke. She collapsed into the fetal position and started bawling

uncontrollably.

Phineas was shrieking in hysterics by now, "Isabella I'm sorry, but

this is just too funny!" he laughed.

"W-what's f-funny a-a-about m-me being m-miserable?" she asked between

sobs.

"Cheer up Isabella," Phineas coaxed as he pushed another button.

Isabella stopped crying. She smiled contentedly and half-lidded her

eyes. She laid back on the ground, sighing peacefully.

"See, things got better," Phineas said amusedly.

"Ahh..." Isabella cooed, "Phineas... watcha doin'?"

"This device sends a signal to the parts of the brain that control

emotions, telling the mind what feeling to give the... victim, I guess."

"Oh... I see," Isabella said calmly. She looked way too relaxed.

"Like this," Phineas said. He punched a button.

Isabella's expression went from one of peace to one of shock. She

stared, stunned, at Phineas. She slowly got up and walked toward him, jaw

agape.

"What's the matter, Isabella?" Phineas questioned.

Isabella's cheeks turned bright red, "Um-I just-you know-" she

blubbered, shivering, "This-this isn't-n-n-n-"

"Natural?"

"Omigoshyoursocute!" Isabella squealed. She leapt at Phineas and

pulled him into a crushing hug, scaring him a bit.

"Can I just hold you forever? Or-or-" she gasped.

Phineas stuck out his tongue and pointed in his mouth, "Barfaroni with

cheese! Your love center's grossing me out, time to switch to the hate center.

"But Phineas, I love-!" Phineas hit a button.

Isabella's face went from sickening sweetness to pure horror. She

shoved Phineas onto his bottom and jumped back, tongue hanging from her

mouth.

"EEWWWWW!" she screeched. Phineas burst out laughing.

"That was totally sick!" Isabella gagged, "Why did you make me-?"

Phineas hit another button.

Poor Isabella stopped again and looked airily out at the stars.

"Somewherrrrre ov-er the rain-bow..." she sang.

Phineas fell on his gut and pounded the ground. This was too much.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so hard.

Isabella looked mistily at Phineas, "Phineas..." she whispered, "turn

this stupid thing off."

"All right all right," Phineas chuckled. He punched a button.

Isabella perked up, looking much more focused.

"Are you normal?" Phineas asked.

"Yes, yes I am," she replied.

"Dude, I just about died laughing!" Phineas said gleefully.

Isabella rolled her eyes, "So what's this for, exactly?" she asked

irritably.

Phineas' expression darkened. He grinned wickedly. Isabella's eyes

widened.

"This," he responded, reaching for another button.

"Uh oh," Isabella said wearily as he hit it.

Panic gripped Isabella. She screamed at the top of her lungs and

started shaking madly. She gripped the helmet and started trying to rip it

off.

"NO! NO! NO!" she screeched frantically. She eyes bugged wider than

Phineas had thought they could go as her head whipped about wildly, apparently

looking for an exit, or something. She sucked in two quick, panicked breaths

and screamed again.

"Aahhhh! AAAHHHH! Phineas, turn it off! TURN IT OFF!" she

yelled, clearly out of her mind with fear.

Phineas, alarmed by the intensity of her reaction, quickly found the

normal button and pressed it.

Isabella stopped screaming. She undid the helmet and threw it on the

ground, then immediately sat down. Phineas ran to her side as her eyes filled

with tears and she began sobbing quietly.

"Isabella! Are you okay?" Phineas cried, genuinely concerned.

Isabella pulled Phineas close and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Don't ever do that to me again, Phineas, please... please don't..." she

whimpered.

Phineas held her and patted her on the back, "Sorry... I didn't think

it would be so effective..."

"You made that so you could scare people?" Isabella wept pitifully.

"Essentially, yes. I figure I can build a gun that can fire this at

the Alions and-"

"Scare them?"

"Yep. We'll see how brave they are once they get a load of this.

Judging by how well it worked on you, I'd say their whole army will run the

moment they get nailed!"

"Yeah, I think it'll work," Isabella groaned, "Too bad you didn't

build this when I had the hiccups."

"No kidding," Phineas agreed.

"You're the guinea pig next time," Isabella sobbed.

Phineas smiled, "Fair enough."

"Well Dad?"

"What?"

"Come on."

"Oh yeah. Thank you, Vanessa."

"Not what I meant."

"What did you mean?"

"Cough up already!"

"Oh, is that all you care about? No, 'Gee Dad, I'm glad you're all

right' or-"

"Nope. Fork it over."

"Fine. Give me my checkbook."

Vanessa handed the checkbook to her dad, Dr. Doofenshmirtz. He had

paid her to bribe the judge to acquit him for kidnapping the Flynn-Fletcher

family. It hadn't been easy to persuade Vanessa to get him out of jail.

She'd refused to help him, her own father, until he'd agreed to pay her TEN

THOUSAND dollars, and that wasn't counting the huge bribe they'd had to pay to

corrupt the judge, either.

It was good to have an ex-wife that was totally loaded.

Doofenshmirtz filled out the check and handed it to Vanessa with a

withering glare, which she completely ignored.

"Oh yeah, I'm gonna have fun with this," Vanessa smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't spend it all in one place," Doofenshmirtz

griped.

"Whatever. Later, Dad! I've got a check to cash!" Vanessa began

running for the bank.

"Wait! Give me my disintegratinator!"

"Huh? Oh, here..." Vanessa pulled a small ray gun out of her pocket

and threw it to her dad, who caught it.

"Hey! Hey! Be careful with that you could-" Doofenshmirtz began.

But Vanessa was already halfway down the street. Doofenshmirtz

mumbled something to himself about disrespectful teenagers and pocketed the

-inator. Never mind her, he decided, he had more important things to take

care of.

Like revenge.

Candace was a superstar. Her small group quickly grew into a huge

procession as the Candasaurs gathered to parade with them to the capitol

building. All around she could hear the Candasaurs talking excitedly, mostly

about her. She heard things like, "Is she real?" and, "I thought she was a

myth!" and, "She's come to save us!" and-you get the idea.

Candace looked around herself in awe as they walked through the city.

It was like a city custom-built for her. Everything was red, white, purple or

pink, though mostly red and white. She could hear rock and pop music

blasting around every corner. They passed parks with various types of candy

cane-colored play equipment, bands in pavilions surrounded by flowers and

dozens of cheese sandwich vendors.

Candace couldn't help but laugh. This place was almost to cool to be

real.

"You like it?" Xosizi asked.

"Are you kidding? This is awesome!" Candace cried.

"Hopefully we can save it," he replied.

Candace looked around at the Candasaurs. She noticed many of the

girls were dressed a lot like her, with white skirts and red blouses. The

boys wore more masculine attire, but even they seemed to heavily favor red and

white. Candace turned her head another way and saw a fairly accurate statue

of herself in a fountain.

Some people probably would have found all this creepy, but Candace was

a glory hog. She loved it. As they continued their march, they came into a

small neighborhood with houses of various shapes and sizes, most of which were

combinations of her favorite colors, though, for some reason, she also saw a

lot of more normal-looking homes, including several that looked like hers back

on Earth. Behind many of the houses she saw big backyards with big trees, and

many of them had kids building things in them. In one yard, she saw two small

Candasaurs building something humungous, and their older sister calling their

mom on the phone, trying to bust them.

Candace felt a lump in her throat. She was in Candace-Heaven, but

this reminded her of how things used to be. She badly wished she could fix

what had happened... she wished Phineas and Ferb hadn't been caught... she

wished-

"You okay, Candace?"

Candace snapped awake. She looked down at Xosizi, who seemed a little

concerned. She noticed a tear in her eye, which she quickly wiped away. She

sighed.

"I just wish I could go home. I wish things could go back to the way

they used to be."

"Ahh, I understand," Xosizi said sadly.

"You do?"

"Hey, just because we're warriors, doesn't mean we're heartless."

Candace looked back up. She needed something to take her mind off

home. She heard a familiar tune playing out of some nearby speakers. It was

the tune of a song she'd sang on Mars. She started snapping her fingers to

the beat. Xosizi bobbed his head.

Candace looked around her. The Candasaurs were following her lead,

snapping their fingers. Candace smiled. She took a breath.

"I was just a lonely girl!" she sang.

The Candasaurs cheered as she began singing the song she'd sung for

the Martians earlier that Summer. They all danced to the beat as they

approached the capitol building, which looked a lot like the United States

Congress with two domes instead of one... and it was red and purple... with

flowers painted on it. A huge staircase led to it's massive doors. The crowd

reached the foot of the steps just as Candace finished. They let out a wild

cheer and gave Candace a big hand after the last note. She laughed heartily.

It was a hard to feel bad when everyone was cheering for her.

"Candace! Xosizi! Follow me!"

Candace looked up the stairs. Candy had run to the top and was

calling to them. The crowd parted to let the two of them run up the steps.

"What's up?" Candace asked.

"I'm need to take you and Xosizi to the High Priest and the President,

milady."

"Cool! Lead the way!" Candace replied.

"You should probably drop the 'milady' part," Xosizi advised.

"Why?" Candy wondered.

"I'm just a normal person," Candace responded.

"What?"

"I'm not a goddess, but everyone around here thinks I am!"

Candy stopped dead, "Wait, your a fake?" she asked suspiciously.

"She's the one you're looking for," Xosizi interjected, "But it seems

the legends about her have been blown out of proportion."

Candy looked alarmed, "So, are you going to be able to help us?" she

asked Candace worriedly.

Candace opened her mouth to respond, but Xosizi, thankfully, spoke

first, "That's what we need to talk to the Priest and President about."

Candy turned slowly to Candace and looked her straight in the eye.

"So... CAN you call down lightning from heaven?"

"I got struck by lightning while holding the cord to a time machine."

Candace admitted.

"So... like you said then... you just a..."

"Normal person," Xosizi and Candace affirmed together.

Candasaurs couldn't really turn white, since they had red skin, but

Candy came pretty close, "Oh, no. This is bad. This is REALLY bad."

"No kidding," Candace agreed.

"What're we going to do? We're dead!" Candy cried.

"Calm down. Let's go talk to the president and figure it out," Xosizi

said calmly.

Candy face palmed with a big groan. She began walking again. She led

Candace and Xosizi up some stairs, down a hall and to a large door, which she

opened to let them in.

"They're here," Candy called through the door.

"Send them in!" a high-pitched voice squealed.

Candy gave them a look that told them to head inside. They walked

through the door, which she shut behind them.

"There it is!" Hgtfpjsh announced.

Phineas and Isabella looked through the ship and saw a fairly dismal-

looking planet. It's blood-red oceans and red-green continents might have

been pretty if they hadn't been covered in thousands of what appeared to be

burn marks.

"What's with all those black spots?" Isabella asked.

"Those are ruined cities, many of which were so large they could be

seen from space." Hgtfpjsh answered.

"Who destroyed them?" Phineas wondered.

"We did, the Tkpxzv," Hgtfpjsh replied, "the race of this planet

refuses to surrender, so we've had to destroy them. If those Alions would've

just left, the race here probably would have capitulated and made things

easier for themselves, but the Alions chose to use them to serve their own

selfish ends."

Isabella gave Phineas a skeptical look. He just blinked. Something

didn't seem right about Hgtfpjsh's story. WHY were they trying to get the

race to surrender? Had they attacked the Tkpxzv?

"There's only one city left," Hgtfpjsh continued, "The Alions finally

managed to repulse our forces there, but their victory won't last. You can't

see them, but all around us are spacecraft loaded with Tkpxzv warriors. In a

matter of minutes, we will fall upon the city and defeat the Alion force."

Phineas and Isabella turned to Hgtfpjsh in surprise. "Minutes?" they

asked together.

"Yes, minutes. You got your Discourager Ray built, Phineas?"

"Yes, yes I do," Phineas replied.

"Good, we're gonna need it. Our soldiers are strong, but they'll need

your help to win."

Phineas and Isabella exchanged meaningful glances. Phineas took a

deep breath as if to say, "Oh boy."

"Come! We need to prepare," Hgtfjsh said, "With any luck this'll be

over within an Earth hour."

Phineas and Isabella followed him out of the room. Isabella looked

back at the burns on the planet. She really hoped the Tkpxzv had had a good

reason for inflicting those, because something in her stomach was telling her

what they were about to do was wrong.

A tiny Candasaur leapt onto Candace and gave her big hug.

"I knew you would come!" she cried.

Candace was taken aback. Who was this?

"Hey President, what about me?" Xosizi growled.

The Candasaur jumped off of Candace and embraced the laughing Alion.

"You came too!" she cried.

"Your the President?" Candace exclaimed, speaking to the little

Candasaur.

"Bet you wish your president was this much fun!" Xosizi replied,

tickling the giggling Candasaur.

"How can she-" Candace began.

"Don't underestimate my daughter, Goddess of Thunder, she is wise

beyond her years," a weary-sounding male voice gruffed.

Candace glanced over and saw a wrinkled old Candasaur with a red and

white striped robe.

"Are you the High Priest?" Candace guessed.

"That I am, Goddess of Thunder."

"Okay, first off, I'm not a Goddess, okay?"

The President stopped, "You're not?"

"No. You know those stories where I called down lightning from

heaven?" Candace asked.

"Yes," the Priest replied.

"They're not completely true. I got struck by lightning while holding

the cord to a time machine. I'm just a random person that got lucky... if

getting hit by lightning is ever lucky..."

"You have no powers?" the President inquired.

"None," Candace responded.

"Hm. Well Xosizi, I guess this is all on you and your race," the

President said flatly, "I really wish the last President would've built a

military..."

"What does she mean?" Candace asked Xosizi.

"An Alion army is protecting this city. They finally stopped the

last Tkpxzv attack and saved this city, but they'll be back soon."

"You're still going to save us."

Everyone turned and looked at the priest.

"She is?" the President and Xosizi queried together.

"I am?" Candace wondered.

"The heavens don't lie. You liked the city, yes?" the Priest asked.

"Yes, I-" Candace started.

"Because everything in it was geared toward you, right?"

"Yeah. How do you know so much about me, anyway?"

"We were told by the heavens, and they have told me and many prophets

before, that in our darkest hour, the Red and White Goddess of Thunder would

return, save us and defeat our enemies by calling down lightning from heaven."

"I'm telling you, I can't-"

"The other prophecies have proven true, this one will too. Have some

faith in yourself, Goddess of Thunder, and have faith in the heavens."

"Have faith, huh? Isn't that what you told me?" Candace wondered,

glancing at Xosizi.

"Indeed I did," he replied.

The President jumped off of Xosizi and began pacing, "Hm... you have

no powers, Candace, that's true, but I'll bet you can still help us."

"Really? How?" Candace asked.

"You may be a normal person, but everyone around here believes in you.

If you lead the Candasaur recruits, you might be able to inspire them to fight

hard enough to save the city. Maybe. It can't hurt, at least."

Candace's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "I can't lead an

army! I-"

"Can you shoot a gun?"

"Uh... actually, yes," Candace was, in fact, a decent gunslinger.

She'd proven herself when she was sucked into a video game and while

defending Phineas, Ferb and Isabella from some laser-shooting guard bots, not

to mention that she'd also won a shootout with Phineas' defense grid.

"Good, you can defend yourself. That's all you'll really need. The

Alions will do all the commanding. All you have to do is stay alive and cheer

the recruits on. With you around, they'll probably believe they can win, and

if they believe they can win, then they probably can."

"I don't know..."

"Will you just try? Please? You're our only hope!"

"Well..."

BOOM.

The group turned to look out the window. Their expressions said that

all of them knew what was happening.

A large explosion rose from a nearby office building, which caught

fire. The door to the room burst open and Candy leapt inside.

"They're here! We're under attack!"

"Rats," muttered the President.

Candace gulped. The Priest bowed. Xosizi groaned.

"I wish they would've waited a little bit longer. Whatever, though,"

Xosizi complained. He ran to the door as another blast shook the room,

"Candace, are you in or are you out?"

The President, the Priest and Candy all looked at Candace expectantly.

Candace sighed, "I'm in."

"Good! C'mon!" Xosizi charged out of the room.

"Good luck, Candace. You may not have powers, but at least you have a

backbone," Candy said.

"Thanks," Candace replied weakly.

"Candace, MOVE! We're under attack!" Xosizi's voice roared.

Candace didn't need to be told again. The three Candasaurs saluted

their brave but powerless goddess as she ran off after Xosizi.

Phineas and Isabella gazed down at the city below. They saw several

explosions rise from the opposite side of it, where Tkpxzv craft had just

commenced bombing, though the craft were hard to see because of their clear

material. A bunch of what looked like anti-aircraft fire flashed from the

streets and buildings below.

"So, that's just a ruse to distract the Alion Air Force, right?" Isabella asked.

"Yeah," Phineas confirmed, "The real attack is coming from this side

of the city."

He, Isabella and a large ray gun were all hidden in some brush on a

hill on the west side of the city. Not far from their position was a river

with a bridge crossing it that led into the city. A Tkpxzv army was heading

toward the bridge, and would cross within minutes. The narrow bridge would,

of course, be a great battlefield for the Alions, who would no doubt swarm

it to prevent the Tkpxzv from crossing. What the Alions didn't know, however,

was that Phineas and his Discourager Ray would be lurking up on the hill. The

plan was, the Tkpxzv force would attempt to cross the bridge, and most of the

Alion force would go there to stop them. The Tkpxzv would fight them there

for a few minutes until they were certain the vast bulk of the Alion force had

arrived, then they would feign a retreat, which would draw the Alions out of

their defensive positions and into the open as they chased the Tkpxzv. When

enough were in view, Phineas would fire his Discourager Ray at the Alion

force, instantly breaking their morale and causing them to rout. The Tkpxzv

would then turn around, chase down their frightened enemies and defeat them.

With the main Alion force beaten, the Tkpxzv would be free to sweep through

the city and destroy any remaining resistance.

"You ready for this, Shmpthrlf? Phineas?" Phineas and Isabella

turned to look up at Hgtfpjsh.

"As I'll ever be," Isabella groaned.

"Sure," Phineas affirmed.

"Good. Don't fire until I give you the signal, okay?"

"Yes sir," Phineas answered.

He and Isabella turned back to look out at the battle. Dozens of

silver ball-looking things with guns all over them-Alion spacecraft-had taken

to the sky and were now circling the nearly invisible Tkpxzv bombers and

blasting away at them. They could also hear the distant roar of vehicles coming

down the road behind them.

"Here it comes, Isabella," Phineas whispered.

"Yeah. Sure," she replied.

Candace and Xosizi dashed through the streets. The ground shook as

bomb after bomb fell on the city. Citizens fled in all directions, screaming

in terror. Candace herself screamed as a nearby building blew up and nearly

fell on top of them. She stayed as close as she could to Xosizi, who seemed

surprisingly calm. As they passed one street, she saw a squad of Alions with

long, metal rods dash out of a building. They raised their weapons into the

air and fired jets of what looked like paint and electricity at the sky.

Candace looked up to see what they were shooting at and screamed again when

she saw the "lightning paint" tear through some kind of force field and then

land, splattering, against some invisible thing in the air which she quickly

realized was a Tkpxzv bomber.

"Xlath idirz, VAR!" she heard an Alion shout.

Out of nowhere, Alions poked out of windows, alleyways and trash cans.

They all had huge, shoulder-mounted bazooka-looking weapons. They all aimed

and fired powerful electric bolts at the bomber, which buzzed against the

craft's force field.

"What are they doing?" Candace yelled to Xosizi. Right as she did,

the bomber blasted a building with some of the Alions in it, causing a

massive explosion and sending the nearby Alions running for cover.

"They're destroying its force field!" he yelled back, "Electricity

messes them up for some reason! Run faster, we gotta get outta here!"

The two of them pumped their legs harder, but Candace couldn't help

but look back to see what was happening. There was a sound like a mighty

thunderclap as the force field was annihilated by the Alions' guns. The ship

fired a couple more shots back and blew up another building, but immediately

after Candace heard a few dozen WHOOSH! sounds and saw a bunch of what could

only be rockets fly into the air and explode against the bomber's clear hull.

"Skrf snag!"

Candace's turned just in time to see an Alion with a shoulder-carried

rocket launcher land in one-kneed kneeling position in front of her, aiming

his weapon. She yelped and ducked as he fired over her head at the bomber.

She got up as the rocket exploded against the craft and kept running, dodging

two of the Alion's buddies who had come out to help him. She glanced back

behind her and watched in awe as the Alions unleashed salvo after salvo after

salvo at the huge spacecraft, undaunted by it's heavy retaliatory fire.

Suddenly, she saw a huge explosion come off the craft. She heard an Alion

yell, "Ait gooja!", which meant "Take cover!", though she didn't know that.

The Alions ran for their lives as the huge, nearly invisible ship came

crashing down to the pavement below, smashing to pieces and sending an

incredible shockwave through the ground that nearly knocked Candace over. The

massive craft crushed several buildings and sent giant shards of what looked

like glass spinning down the street, almost flattening Candace as they went.

"Wow!" Candace couldn't help but cry out.

She was impressed, but similar scenes were being repeated all over the

East side of the city as the Alions traded shots with the Tkpxzv, both in the

air and on the ground. Candace noticed many ships that looked like the one

she'd arrived in zipping around overhead, tangling viciously with the bombers.

Soon Xosizi ran to the door of a low concrete building. He did

something with the handle and then opened it and ran inside, Candace on his

heels. The two ran down a flight of stairs and to a pair of heavy steel

doors. Xosizi knocked on them.

"You guys are good!" Candace huffed.

"You know it," Xosizi replied.

"Where are we?" Candace asked.

"This is the Recruits' Bunker. This is where the Candasaur trainees

are."

"No one's home!" a voice yelled from behind the doors.

"No one, but a candy-striped Sphere Blaster!" Xosizi yelled back.

"Correct! Enter!" The door opened slowly.

Up on the hill, Phineas and Isabella watched as the first line of

Tkpxzv war machines rolled onto the six-lane bridge. The six ones at the

front looked like big noses-seriously, nose-shaped, while the ones behind

were dome-shaped. Both kinds of vehicles were on wheels.

Before the Tkpxzv army stood a huge barricade that blocked the far end

of the bridge, effectively walling off the city. The barricade was made of

all kinds of random junk, and scores of heavy Alion guns were pointed out of

it straight at the Tkpxzv horde. The far bank of the river was walled off as

well. Phineas smirked to himself. It looked like the Alions were quite ready

to receive them. If only they knew...

Just before the first Tkpxzv hit the bridge, the Alions opened fire.

A storm of bullets and electricity lashed at the nose-shaped vehicles,

bouncing off some kind of force field that was protecting them. The

nose-shaped vehicles quickly shot back with what appeared to be... electric

wires? The wires landed on what appeared to be ANOTHER force field that was

protecting the barricade. He saw sparks rattling out the ends of the wires.

Phineas and Isabella were totally confused. Hgtfpjsh must've seen the

looks on their faces, because he explained it to them.

"The Alions' gate is protected by a force field, it requires a

powerful electric shock to destroy it," he told them.

"Is that why the Alion guns are shooting electricity, too?" Isabella

asked.

"Yep. Electric shock ability is essential to any modern military.

Force fields are one reason we've been able to dominate so many races. Most of

them don't have-oh, no what're they-!"

The Alions were concentrating all their fire on one nose truck. It

took a few seconds, but the force field finally collapsed and the shots went

through, ripping the nose truck to shreds. Unfortunately for the Tkpxzv,

their front line was being protected by a collective force field, which meant

that if one truck's field was down, so were the others.

"Get it back up get it back-no!" Hgtfpjsh groaned angrily. The Alions

had just blown up four more of the trucks. The other two took damage but got

their force fields up in time to survive.

"Bummer," Phineas said flatly, "Can two of them still zap their way

through?"

"Well... it's possible, but they'd have to be able to use their full

power... which means they'd have to turn their force fields off which would

mean instant death."

"So, they can't get through?" Isabella guessed.

"There's a way, a very COSTLY way," Hgtfpjsh replied, "And it looks

like they're doing it now."

Everyone turned and saw a swarm of the dome-shaped vehicles roll up in

front of the shockers. Their tops rose slightly and they unleashed a salvo of

laser fire at the barricade, which bounced harmlessly off the force field.

The Alions' fire pounded their line, breaking through several force fields and

destroying dozens of them. Each time one was destroyed, however, another dome

came to take it's place.

"How does this help?" Phineas wondered, "All the domes are just getting

blown up!"

"Those 'domes' are called, in your tongue, Carry Tanks. They're

protecting the shocker trucks, which are called Surges so they can deliver

their full 'shock' value," Hgtfpjsh replied.

"Ah."

In spite of the extra protection, another Surge got blown up, leaving

only one to try and zap through. Hgtfpjsh sighed.

"If that last one blows up we'll lose before this even starts," he

observed.

Suddenly, there was a reverberating BOOM. Hgtfpjsh whooped as the

Carry Tanks redoubled their fire, this time blasting away chunks of the

barricade and trashing the Alion guns.

"They got it!" he cried, "The force field is down!"

"Behold your army!" Xosizi cried.

Before Candace stood 2,000 Candasaurs, each standing at attention and

holding a really big gun. One in the back broke his stance to pick his nose.

"Uh... hi?" Candace said awkwardly.

"Hi!" one of them yelled back. The guy next to him slapped him and

muttered something about being at attention.

There was a long silence. The Candasaurs shifted uncomfortably.

Candace stared.

Xosizi finally broke the silence, "Yeah, whatever. Recruits! Candace

has come to lead you into battle today!"

A cheer rose from the Candasaurs.

"Shut up, you're at attention!" Xosizi barked, making Candace jump.

They snapped back to attention.

"Now, we're-"

"Xosizi, come in!"

Xosizi groaned. His communicator was going off. He pulled it out.

"What?" he grunted.

"Head for Red River Bridge, repeat, bring your forces to Red River

Bridge! Tkpxzv forces attempting to cross!" a voice on the communicator

ordered.

"Got it," Xosizi put his communicator back, "Looks like we've got some

target practice at the Red River Bridge, you fellas hungry for some dead meat?

Dead TXPXZV meat?"

A cheer rose from the Candasaurs. Xosizi told them to shut up because

they were at attention. Candace rolled her eyes.

"Captains take your squads! To Red River now! Use underground! Meet

Brush Hill Station in ten minutes! Repeat, use underground to reach Brush

Hill Station in ten minutes! Go, go, go!"

The Candasaur Captains shouted a cacophony of orders and the

Candasaurs marched/stumbled out in a rather disorganized fashion.

"They haven't been trained much," Xosizi commented.

"I see," Candace replied.

"They'll fight hard with you around though, and they have good guns."

"What kind of guns are they?"

"Heavy Pulverizer Cannons, the best hand-held weapons in the known

universe. They fire shells that penetrate the target and then explode inside

it."

"Wow."

"Yeah. C'mon, we need to get our own guns and catch up to them."

Candace grinned despite her nervousness. With a gun like that she

might just survive-and shooting it would be flippin' cool.

The barricade was down, and a ferocious gunfight had commenced. The

Alions, though badly outnumbered, seemed to be winning. No matter how hard

the Tkpxzv tried, they couldn't break the line of Alion tanks and soldiers

that were crowding the far side of the bridge. The Alion defenders had

everything rigged to give them the edge. Behind the first barricade there

were more barricades and more force field generators to defend their forces

while they pummeled the Tkpxzv trying to cross the bridge, and that wasn't

all. The Alions were still shooting from their fortifications along the river

and from office buildings behind the barricades.

"Many, many children will be fatherless after this bloodbath,"

Hgtfpjsh sighed morosely.

"Should I fire the ray? It would turn things around in a heartbeat!"

Phineas suggested.

"Wait for the signal. We want the vast bulk of the Alion army to be

here."

"Suit yourself," Phineas responded, wincing as yet another line of

Carry Tanks got obliterated. He was amazed by how many Tkpxzv there were.

In spite of all the casualties they were taking, their were still hundreds of

tanks stretching on down the road.

Eventually, the Alion Forces, though more were arriving all the time,

started to fall back slightly. The Tkpxzv began spilling slowly across the

bridge.

"Hey look, they're finally making some progress!" Phineas exclaimed.

"Odd... it doesn't look like the Alions have lost enough troops to

retreat..." Hgtfpjsh said, perplexed.

"I wonder why the Alions don't just blow the bridge up," Isabella

noted, "That would block those Carry Tanks better than anything else."

KA-BOOM!

"Oops. I think I jinxed it," Isabella cringed.

"Speak of the devil," Phineas said boredly.

"A trap! I knew something was wrong!" Hgtfpjsh cried in frustration.

In case you didn't get that, the Alions blew the bridge up. They'd

lined it with explosives long before the battle had started and had waited for

the perfect moment to detonate them. Dozens and dozens of Carry Tanks went

splashing into the river, along with huge chunks of the bridge. The few tanks

that had reached the far side were quickly annihilated by the Alion defenders.

"Game over," Phineas said unhelpfully.

"Not so fast," Hgtfpjsh said, "notice that those bridge chunks are

piled up under the water. Our men should be able to walk across the rubble to

reach the other side... unfortunately that means they have to leave their

tanks."

Hgtfpjsh, Phineas and Isabella all looked at one another grimly,

realizing the slaughter was about to get worse.

"The signal will come soon, I'm sure," Hgtfpjsh said uncertainly.

"Let's hope," Isabella agreed.

Candace wasn't grinning anymore. She didn't get a Pulverizer Cannon.

All she got was a stupid standard-equip Alion Rifle, which was basically just

an overglorified M-16. Not a bad gun, just... an uninteresting one, and one

that was a lot less likely to save your life on the battlefield. It DID have

a weak zapper on it to help penetrate force fields, and it had a laser sight.

Still, wielding this thing against the greatest empire in the known universe

seemed... unlikely to work, or something. Xosizi had one too. He and Candace

had caught up to the Candasaur Recruits and were riding the subway to Brush

Hill Station.

"So... you can shoot?"

"Well... I'm a good shot, but I've never used one these."

"First thing you need to remember is to put the butt of the gun

against your shoulder, and I don't mean your upper arm, I mean your shoulder.

The thing kicks hard, and if you don't position it right it'll throw you

around and fire all wild."

Candace put the gun against her shoulder, "Like this?" She asked.

Xosizi grabbed it and pulled it up a bit further, "There, like that.

Now, there's a sensor on the trigger that automatically turns on the laser

sight when you put your finger on it."

Candace put her finger on the trigger. A bright blue laser lit a

point on the back of a Candasaur's head. The soldier next to him noticed it,

yelped and yanked the guy down behind the seat.

Candace grinned and took her finger off the trigger, "The laser is

blue?"

"Trag. What else would it be?"

"It's red on Earth."

"They use this technology in the Sol System?"

"Yeah, er, trag. This is a lot like an assault rifle from back home.

To shoot I just pull the trigger, right?"

"Trag. And I taught you how to reload back at the bunker, right?"

"Yes, yes you did. How do I use the electro-shocker thing?"

"It's automatic when you fire."

"Cool."

The two sat there a moment. They could hear booms and rumbles from

the ground above.

"You know, it's kind of weird..." Candace began.

"What's weird?" Xosizi replied.

"This just... isn't what I thought outer space would be like. Your

weapons, for example. I thought you would be using laser blasters and light

sabers and stuff, but your guns are almost exactly like what we have on Earth,

just improved a little."

"Ah, yes. We do have laser blasters, but we don't normally use them.

Bullets and bombs are much more energy-efficient. It's very difficult to

pump enough energy into a laser to make it effective, and they're extremely

easy to deflect. All you need is a reflective surface."

"Like a mirror. Yeah," Candace remembered using a mirror to deflect

the lasers in Phineas' defense grid."

"Exactly. A mirror won't save you from a bullet. However... the

Tkpxzv use... not lasers, exactly, but they use energy attacks a lot. Their

main weapon in battle is their psychic power."

"They have psychic power?" Candace asked, surprised.

"You know those force fields around their ships?"

"Y-trag."

"They aren't created by machines. The Tkpxzv use their powers to

create a force field."

"Whoa."

"You'll find that the Tkpxzv are fairly poor engineers. Whenever they

do use a machine, it's to enhance their psychic abilities. Their vehicles,

for example, don't run on fossil fuel or anything like that. They run on

psychic power. When they fire their energy attacks, it's simply magnified

Tkpxzv psychic will."

"Strange... do the Alions or the Candasaurs have psychic abilities?"

"The Alions don't, and I'm pretty sure the Candasaurs don't either.

We actually have to work to do the things we want, which is why we're such

better tacticians than the Tkpxzv are."

"'We're' being the Alions, right?"

"Uh, right, yeah, the Candasaurs don't know squat about fighting,

except maybe the guys in here. Our society encourages work and creativity,

whereas the Tkpxzv mostly just spend there time manipulating things with their

minds. They don't have to work with the laws of the nature. They can bend

matter to do what they want it to, at least to a degree."

"I see. So... what does your-?"

Candace didn't get to finish. The train slammed to stop.

"Everyone out! Let's move move move!" Xosizi yelled.

The Candasaurs and Xosizi all leapt to their feet and charged out the

doors. Candace gulped then got up to catch Xosizi. They were here-she hoped

she'd live.

Phineas watched as tons of Alion vehicles and soldiers rolled in to

reinforce their front line. Tkpxzv warriors tried valiantly to charge across

the bridge's rubble, even though their situation was hopeless. Hundreds of

them were being cut down as they stumbled over the mess, and the few that made

it across the bridge were sliced/shot to bits by a mass of Alions on the other

side.

"They're very brave," Isabella noted reverently.

"Or just plain stupid," Phineas added.

"It seems we vastly underestimated the ferocity of the Alions'

defense. It's a miracle that our warriors haven't fled," Hgtfpjsh said

miserably, "I'm glad you have your invention here, Phineas of Earth. Without

it I can see we would have no chance of victory today."

Some of the Carry Tanks began to rout. Soon, most of the Tkpxzv force was

retreating, though a few of the braver soldiers continued trying to storm

across the river.

"Where is that signal?" Isabella cried nervously.

Hgtfpjsh looked up past the bridge and to the backs of the Alion

lines. He noticed that the flood of reinforcements had nearly ceased.

"I hope the commander isn't dead. It looks like that signal should-"

Hgtfpjsh didn't get to finish. A message went through his mind.

THEY'RE ALL HERE. FIRE NOW.

The commander had just sent Hgtfpjsh a psychic signal to unleash

Phineas' weapon upon the Alions.

"He just gave me the signal! Fire, Phineas, fire!" Hgtfpjsh ordered.

Phineas punched some buttons on the weapon, then he aimed it at the

Alions on the other side of the destroyed bridge.

"All right, Alions, get a load of this!" Phineas yelled. He fired the

Discourager ray at the Alion lines, sweeping back and forth across them. The

Alion soldiers quickly began throwing down their guns and running for their

lives, though what they were running from was anyone's guess. The sudden rout

confused the Alion forces who hadn't been hit yet. Some soldiers began to

follow their comrades. The Alion commanders tried to rally their troops over

the chaos, but as they did so, Phineas' swept his ray all across the lines,

causing random cowardice all over the place and sending Alions running like

ninnies. It wasn't long before some of the commanders had been hit. Those

commanders ordered their troops to flee while other commanders were still

shouting for the Alions to hold their ground. As the Alion army wavered

between conflicting orders, some Tkpxzv scrambled across the bridge, opening

fire and causing greater fear and confusion in the Alion ranks. Phineas gave

the Alions a few more sweeping zaps and within seconds their entire army gave

way and began fleeing the battlefield. The Tkpxzv poured across the bridge

and gave chase to their enemies. The Tkpxzv who had been retreating were now

heading back to the non-fray.

"Well done, Phineas!" Hgtfpjsh exclaimed, "You just single-handedly

captured the city!"

"Hey, it's nothing, I'm just... you know, awesome like that," he

replied.

It was right about then that Candace, Xosizi and the recruits showed

up. The two thousand recruits had left Brush Hill station and were now

marching, double time, for the Red River bridge.

"Xosizi, how far is it?" Candace asked.

"We take a right at this intersection here, and the bridge is at the

end of the street," he responded.

They marched quickly toward the intersection. Candace expected that

she would hear gunfire and explosions as they approached. Instead she

heard... footsteps? Like, a LOT of footsteps. Like, a stampede... and

shouting... lots of shouting.

"Candace, do you hear that?" Xosizi whispered.

"Yeah, I do," she replied.

Xosizi narrowed his eyes, "That not a good sound."

"What does it mean?"

"It sounds like a rout, but that better not be what it is."

Candace wasn't familiar with military terms, "What's a rout?"

"Column right, HARCH!" Xosizi roared. The army turned the corner, "A

rout is-"

Then they saw it. Thousands of Alions were stampeding down the street

and coming right for them.

"-that," Xosizi finished.

A murmur rose from the recruits. "What are they running from?"

Candace asked.

Xosizi shrugged, "I have no idea. They weren't beaten, there's too

many of them left..."

A few Alions were well ahead of the main group. One guy, screaming

his head off, came running past Xosizi and Candace. Xosizi grabbed the guy

and yanked him into his face.

"What are you running from soldier?" he yelled.

"I don't know! All I know is that I'm really really scared! Let go

of me I wanna live!"

"What's gonna kill you?"

"I don't know! I don't know!"

Xosizi slapped the guy in the face, trying to knock some sense into

Him, "Get a hold of yourself! What happened? Why is the army retreating?"

The slap seemed to have gotten the guy to focus, though he was still

clearly nervous, "Uh... I... I don't get it."

"You don't get what?"

By now the main body of the Alion army was flowing past, "Well... we

were winning... the Tkpxzv army was almost in a full rout, then everyone

suddenly turned chicken and started running!"

Xosizi was dumbfounded, "You mean to tell me that a whole army of

Alions, trained for war from birth, and told never to run unless they

absolutely had too, is running from NOTHING?"

"Uh... yeah. I think so."

Xosizi let go of the guy and he took off again. Xosizi began yelling

at the panicked Alion mob, "YOU LOUSY COWARDS! TURN AROUND AND FIGHT!

YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO OUR PEOPLE! WHAT DO YOU-!"

Xosizi screamed in vain at the routing army. Candace looked on while

he did, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned and saw a

Candasaur recruit.

"Pardon me, Candace, but there's a small Tkpxzv force chasing these

Alions," he told her.

Candace turned and peered out over the fleeing Alions (she was much

taller than they were.) Sure enough, she saw Tkpxzv pursuing them, but only a

few.

"There's hardly any of them. What are these Alions running from?" the

Candasaur asked.

Candace thought a moment, "I wonder..." she replied.

"Wonder what?"

"Phineas," she stated. She looked around. On either side of the

street, and all down the street, were office buildings, four on each side.

"Should we run too?" the Candasaur asked Candace.

Candace smiled, "No," she looked at the office building next to them,

then looked back at the recruit, "I think we should hide in this building."

The Candasaur gave her a funny look, "Why?"

"I wanna see what happens when you shoot a Pulverizer Cannon down at

bad guys from a fifth story window."

The Candasaur processed what she said for a minute, then he grinned,

"I'll tell the recruits," he responded.

"How many squads do we have?" Candace asked.

"Twenty."

"Give me two. I'll take them down the alleyway next to the building.

I'll come out and hit them in the front once you're shooting them from above."

"I'll give you squads four and five."

"Cool! Now let's go, they're getting close!"

The recruit ran, mobilized most of the other recruits, and ran them into

the building. Candace grabbed Xosizi (who was still shouting at the fleeing

army) and pulled him into the alleyway where the recruits were already hiding.

"Candace! What the flip are you doing!" he roared.

"Shush! The Tkpxzv are coming!"

"Huh?"

"Just follow my lead, okay?"

Luckily, the old warrior had the sense to shut up. Candace peeked out

of the crowded alleyway. The Alion horde was almost past. Thankfully, they

seemed to be faster than the Tkpxzv, who weren't trying that hard to catch

them anyway, since it appeared that they had already won. Soon, the last two

Alion stragglers ran past. About fifty feet behind them were several dozen

Tkpxzv warriors, who were going at a quick jog. They were talking and

laughing with each other, seemingly flush with victory and unconcerned about

their surroundings. It wasn't long before they were in front of the office

building.

Suddenly, hundreds of windows on the office building were shoved open.

The Tkpxzv looked up in surprise as hundreds of Pulverizer Cannons stabbed out

and pointed down at them.

The next few moments seemed to move in slow motion for Candace. She

heard someone yell, "Fire!"

Then a sound... not what she expected.

She expected a "Ratatatatat!" like a machine gun.

What she heard...

A tornado.

That was closer.

Then fire.

Literally.

The whole street was suddenly on fire.

And smoke. And dust.

The world was suddenly glowing red.

Thousands of explosions.

All at the same time.

All in the same spot.

Candace heard herself scream, "Now!" and felt herself charge out in

front of the firestorm. She dimly noticed the recruits and Xosizi following

her.

She felt her gun hit her shoulder. She heard herself let out a primal

roar as she pulled the trigger. She felt her weapon kick as flames blasted

from the muzzle, making the classic machine gun noise she expected. She

noticed Xosizi doing something similar. The recruits fired as well,

unleashing a hellish torrent of death from their powerful guns.

"Cease fire!" Xosizi yelled.

Time suddenly began flowing again. Candace woke up. Her heart was

pounding like it would blast out of her chest. She looked around in shock.

The smoke cleared. The Tkpxzv warriors were gone. Like, literally, there

were no body parts or anything. They were just... gone. As well as most of

the road, which was cratered and smashed beyond belief.

Candace suddenly realized just how hard she was breathing. A lot of

the Candasaurs were too.

"Xo-Xosizi, wh- wha- what happened?" she stammered.

"We just vaporized a couple hundred Tkpxzv," he replied simply.

"Th-that's wh-what P-Pulverizer-"

"Each one of those bullets is like a little grenade."

"H-how l-long di-?"

"Like, four seconds."

"Huh? H-how?"

Xosizi turned to her and grinned, "Seemed like forever, didn't it?

Did you plan this, by the way?"

"Um-um... yeah," she stuttered.

Xosizi seemed impressed, "Not bad..." he observed, "But, seriously,

get a hold of yourself, the battle's just starting. Look up ahead!"

Candace did. She saw a small horde of Tkpxzv running back for the

bridge, where a much larger horde was gathering.

"You've got 'em on the run, now what?" Xosizi asked her.

Candace shook herself then looked at the gathering army down the road.

"L-let's get Candasaurs in all these buildings. The T-Tk-pkzv will come back

through to try and get us out of this building."

"Sounds good to me, but we'd better go through the backs of the

buildings so they don't know the other buildings are defended." he replied.

The two quickly got the recruits in order and sent them to the

buildings down the street, putting two squads in each building. The recruits

were not to give themselves away or open fire until Xosizi had given them a

radio signal (they were carrying communicators.) Four squads stayed with

Candace and Xosizi in the street to meet the Tkpxzv in the front, and also so

recruits who needed to cross the street to reach other buildings could go

behind them and be undetected by the Tkpxzv.

Candace and Xosizi had to wait for a long time. They watched as the

Tkpxzv army grew and grew as more and more of them crossed the river. The

recruits began shifting nervously.

"How many do you think there are?" Candace asked worriedly.

Xosizi studied the massive Tkpxzv force. "Sixty, seventy thousand."

he responded.

"Can we beat that many?" she wondered.

"It's not so much a matter of can, as of, WILL," he replied.

Candace took a deep breath. This was going to be brutal.

Suddenly, the Tkpxzv began marching forward, into the street. Candace

gulped. She'd never seen so much of ANYTHING in one place. Even from down

the street she could hear their footsteps. The huge Tkpxzv army advanced

cautiously, shooting weird electric things at the buildings as they went by,

hoping to surprise would-be attackers out of hiding. Fortunately, the

Candasaurs didn't reveal themselves, so the Tkpxzv continued forward. When

they were about two buildings away, Xosizi ordered the recruits into the

alleys on either side of the street. This wasn't so much to ambush the Tkpxzv

(who could see them perfectly well) as it was to hide before the Tkpxzv were

in shooting range.

"Fire before they've passed your building," Xosizi whispered into his

radio. He was speaking to the captains they'd left in the original office

building-the one they were hiding behind.

The Tkpxzv knew full well which building the original defenders had

been in, so as they advanced, they stopped as they came to it and formed an

arc around it. They stayed back from the alleyways, knowing the defenders

were hiding there. They pointed their... weapons, whatever they were, at the

building and opened fire.

Windows smashed and Candasaurs cowered as a vicious barrage of

lightning, lasers and assorted energy blasts pounded the office building.

"Never mind, fire at will!" Xosizi roared into his radio.

Candasaurs all up and down the street (which was full of Tkpxzv) threw

open their windows and fired at the mob below.

I'd like to say there was an intense firefight. That there was an

epic back-and-forth battle between the two sides... but that would be a lie.

This wasn't a firefight. This was a slaughter. A massacre. The Tkpxzv never

had a chance. Their force fields were quickly overwhelmed by the mighty

Pulverizer Cannons and the soldiers were practically annihilated before they

could even fire a shot. Candace and Xosizi charged from the alleys to help,

but by the time their recruits had lined up in the street, it was already

over. The recruits and Candace gazed across the carnage in awe. Even Xosizi

seemed amazed. Nothing that had been on that street had survived. Every last

Tkpxzv that had been in the Candasaurs' line of fire was dead. Just like

that. The ones that hadn't been vaporized were lying all over the road,

smoking.

Even Phineas and Isabella had seen it. And heard it. It was really

loud. The whole area had been lit up by tens of thousands of small

explosions. They could see the blasts from the front of the street and smoke

rising from between the buildings. About twenty thousand of the Tkpxzv had

waited at the front of the street rather than follow their comrades in. Those

lucky few immediately turned and ran. They didn't stop at the destroyed

bridge either. They charged all the way across the rubble and back over to

the other bank. Most of them halted there, but a lot of them kept going.

They got in their Carry Tanks and took off… or just ran down the highway.

They were done. They didn't care if they won anymore. They just didn't want

To die.

"Good gravy, what was that?" Phineas exclaimed.

Hgtfpjsh was screaming wildly in Tkpxzv. Phineas was pretty sure that

he was swearing his plunger-ended tail off.

"I don't get it," Isabella said confusedly, "Did the Alions come

back?"

"I think the street was mined or something," Phineas suggested.

Phineas and Isabella looked at the cursing Tkpxzv. They both wanted

to ask him what to do, but they weren't sure it was a good idea.

But then to their surprise, he spoke to them, "IT WASN'T MINES, IT

WAS AN AMBUSH!" he roared, "LOOK!"

They looked and saw a small army of red creatures with huge guns

pouring out from the street. Isabella, who had a pair of binoculars (weird-looking

alien binoculars), put them to her eyes and scanned the group.

"They look like little dinosaurs! With heads shaped like...

Candace's... head," she observed.

"It's the Candasaurs," Hgtfpjsh growled, "The inhabitants of this

planet. The ones the Alions are trying to protect."

"I was wondering where they were. It seemed like they should've been

helping," Phineas commented.

"They didn't have an army... until today, apparently," Hgtfpjsh

groaned, "The Alions must have trained some of them. I'll bet this group

showed up after the main army routed and decided to make a last ditch attempt

to save their city. It seems to have worked, too."

"What the-? Phineas! Come here! You need to see this!" Isabella

cried.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Just look!"

Phineas took the binoculars and looked. A grin crept up his

triangular face.

"I don't believe it..." he muttered.

"What?" Hgtfpjsh asked gruffly.

"We found her, just like that!" Isabella exclaimed.

Phineas turned and looked at Hgtfpjsh, "She's down there with them,

Hgtfpjsh. We've found Candace."

After obliterating the Tkpxzv, Candace, Xosizi and the recruits had

rushed from their hiding places and charged out to the bridge. Tension filled

the air as they reached the river bank. They could see the remaining Tkpxzv

forces huddled on the other side and currently out of range, at least for the

Pulverizer Cannons. Candace and Xosizi's rifles could hit them. Both sides

stared at the other, each challenging the other to try something.

"Xosizi, what should we do next?" Candace asked.

"Wait for them to make the next move. They might try to cross the

bridge, but I think they know they'll die if they do. I think the battle's

over. I think we've won. We just need to wait for them to retreat so that

we're sure," he replied.

Suddenly, there was a flash right next to Candace. The Candasaurs

next to her panicked and started running.

"What the-?" Candace yiped.

"I spoke too soon," Xosizi growled.

Candace looked and saw the problem-a white ray was zapping across the

Candasaurs, causing them to panic and run. She quickly followed the ray to

it's source. Up on a forested hill, across the river, she saw a large laser

gun, and behind it she saw a familiar looking, red-topped triangular head,

with another familiar, black-haired figure next to it.

"Phineas," she groaned.

"Did I get her?" Phineas asked.

"No, but half the Candasaurs are running for their lives now,"

Isabella said dully as she looked through the binoculars. She wasn't terribly

thrilled to help Phineas fight Candace, but she did it anyway.

"Hm... maybe I'll finish with them and then get her," he muttered.

"Uh, oh."

"What?"

"Phineas, get down!" Right as she said it, there was a loud CLANG! as

a bullet glanced off the Discourager Ray.

"What in-!" Phineas exclaimed.

A few more bullets exploded into the dirt.

"She's spotted us! She's shooting back!" Isabella cried.

"You want some of this, Candace? Come on!" Phineas roared. He fired

his weapon at her, missing but causing the rest of the Candasaurs to run.

"Get down before she shoots you!" Hgtfpjsh ordered.

But Phineas wasn't listening. He took another shot, missing again.

"Come back! What's the matter with you?" Xosizi shouted at the

fleeing recruits.

Candace knew what was wrong. She took careful aim at the Discourager

Ray. If she could destroy that gun, it might turn things around.

"Get back here!" Xosizi was yelling.

The Tkpxzv on the other river bank noticed their enemy's sudden flight

and began marching back over the river.

Candace jumped to the side, narrowly dodging a shot from the ray gun.

She aimed her rifle carefully, making sure her sight was dead on the gun.

She pulled the trigger.

A round of bullets fired out of her rifle.

She hit it! Sort of... she saw the gun rattle. She also saw Phineas

flinch-

But it wasn't what she saw that bothered her. She was too far away to

see what had happened. No, it was what she heard.

Even all the way across the river, she could hear Phineas' scream. It

wasn't an angry scream. It was a howl of agony.

Candace looked up in horror, "Oh gosh, NO!" she cried.

She hoped she was wrong. She hoped she'd misunderstood. She hoped

Phineas was yelling about something else.

She wasn't wrong. Isabella's scream confirmed it. It was even louder

than Phineas' scream.

"PHINEAS! NOOO!" she wailed.

Phineas was rolling on the ground, bleeding profusely, screaming in

pain.

"PHINEAS! PHINEAS! NO, PLEASE!" Isabella screamed as she dived to

his side.

"Shmpthrlf! I'll take care of this! Give us some covering fire!"

Hgtfpjsh roared, throwing Isabella a small laser pistol.

"But, Phineas-!"

"GO!"

She obeyed. She took the pistol and aimed at Candace's tiny figure.

She took one more look at Phineas before she opened fire.

There he was. Her knight in shining armor, fallen in battle. He was

covered in blood. He'd been mortally wounded, taking several bullets to the

chest. She couldn't understand how he was still screaming, but he definitely

was. Hgtfpjsh loomed over him, trying to help him, she guessed. Tears filled

Isabella's eyes as she watched her crush... not just that... her BEST

FRIEND... one who was like a brother to her, twisting in agony. She dimly

remembered that they needed covering fire. Isabella turned and aimed at

Candace. As her eyes rested on her, she suddenly realized who was responsible

for destroying her champion.

Her sadness almost immediately turned to anger. Her head suddenly

cleared as her heart suddenly burned with pure hatred.

"You're gonna pay for this, Candace Flynn," she growled. She fired

off multiple shots.

And, luckily for Candace, missed every one. Candace didn't even

notice anyone was shooting at her. She just stared at the hill, not

comprehending what she had just done. She had to have been dreaming. It had

to be a nightmare. She had just SHOT her little brother-and quite possibly

killed him.

"Candace! Let's get outta here! The battle's lost!" Xosizi yelled.

She didn't move. She just stared.

"The Tkpxzv are coming back! We have to go!"

The Tkpxzv were clambering back across the bridge and getting

dangerously close. The Candasaurs were long gone. Only Candace and Xosizi

remained.

Xosizi yelled in frustration. He ran over, threw Candace over his

shoulder and ran away as fast as he could.

Candace didn't remember much after that. She saw buildings go by.

Eventually, she and Xosizi reached the ship they'd come on. Xosizi leapt into

the ship with her, dumped her on the ground, and then somehow managed to get

the door back on. She barely noticed that the crew was there, or that she

could feel the ship taking off. It didn't really matter to her at that point.

A bit later the ship landed. She and the crew got off. Candace walked with

Xosizi this time, but she paid no attention to what was happening around her.

He took her to a small building, laid her down on something fluffy, told her to

rest, then left the room. She did what she was told, and almost immediately she

was asleep.

Isabella swore. She never swore, but she did this time. Candace had

escaped.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Isabella turned and looked back at Phineas in terror. Hgtfpjsh had

his uh... strings over his chest.

"What are you doing?" Isabella cried.

Hgtfpjsh raised his rope from the fallen Phineas. His strings were

holding four bullets.

"Those had to come out," he said simply. He then rested his rope

again on the dying child.

"Easy, Phineas, relax..." Hgtfpjsh coaxed. He closed his eyes.

Isabella saw a blue glow come from his arms and move down into Phineas'

wounds. The writhing Phineas suddenly began to calm down. He stopped

struggling and let out a sigh.

Hgtfpjsh raised his rope from the boy. Isabella looked and saw that,

even though he still had four gaping holes in his shirt, Phineas' injuries

were gone.

"Phineas?" she asked uncertainly.

He sat up and looked down at himself. He touched the former wounds

with his hands then looked at Isabella, then Hgtfpjsh.

"Are you well?" Hgtfpjsh asked.

"I-I guess I am. Thank you!" Phineas exclaimed.

Isabella ran and threw her arms around his neck, "Oh, Phineas, I

thought I'd lost you!" She buried her face in his shoulder and wept. He

didn't object, in fact, he pulled her closer. The whole thing had kinda

scared him too, to say the least.

Isabella raised her tear-stained face to look at Hgtfpjsh, "Thank

you, thank you, Hgtfpjsh," she choked out.

The Tkpxzv fondled her head gently, "At least I was able to save one

life today," he murmured.

So that was the battle for Candasaurus City. The Tkpxzv had won, but

only because of Phineas, and even with him, it had been their most costly

victory in over ten millennia. The twenty thousand or so remaining Tkpxzv

basically walked into the city and occupied it. The Alions had fled the

planet, and the Candasaurs were subjected to Tkpxzv rule. The governor was

impressed with Phineas' performance, and gave him command of a squad of Tkpxzv

engineers, as well as a "purple heart" type of award for being wounded in

battle. Phineas quickly became a local hero to the Tkpxzv, who were now glad

to have him as their battle brother. He and Isabella even received some basic

combat training to help them prepare for the next battle, whenever it was.

Phineas had it made. But one thing still bothered him, and now it was

bothering Isabella too.

Where was Candace?


	6. Chapter 6: Tizilidai

Chapter 6: Tizilidai

"Candace! Why didn't you save him?" Mom wept.

Phineas' mangled body lay in the grass. The rotweiler had killed him.

Candace had found him before the dog attacked. Phineas had cried for her

help, but instead of helping him, she had thrown a rock at him, which had

knocked him over and made it even easier for the savage dog to rip the tiny

boy to shreds.

"Murderer!" Dad cried, "You've murdered your own brother!"

"I-I didn't-" Candace was still in shock, she couldn't believe what

she had just done, "I didn't-mean-"

"Yes you did!" her parents roared.

"I-I'm sor-!"

"SORRY! Sorry doesn't cut it, Candace Flynn!" Mom shouted, "No, you

know what? You're just Candace now. You are no longer my daughter!"

"Get out of our lives Candace," Dad yelled, "And don't come back!"

Candace turned and began walking away dejectedly. Suddenly, she felt

a surge of strength. She looked back at her parents and gave them a steely

glare.

"He deserved it," she said flatly.

"LEAVE!" her parents screamed.

Candace turned away and continued to walk. Soon she was out in the

middle of nowhere. She stopped, realizing she'd come to the edge of a cliff

overlooking an empty wasteland. She sat down on the ledge and looked into the

sky.

"I guess I won," she whispered.

She continued to stare for a while, not feeling much of anything.

"No. I lost," she muttered, "I lost my brother, and now I've lost my

family."

She sighed and hung her head. Tears formed in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Phineas," she whispered, "I'm sorry for everything. I

would do anything if I could bring you back. But you're dead, and I can't

change that."

"Change what?"

Candace's eyes fluttered open. She had been dreaming.

"H-huh?" she whimpered. She realized she was crying. She wiped her

eyes and looked toward the voice. Xosizi was sitting on the floor next to

her, looking unusually concerned for a hard-bitten warrior.

"You slept TERRIBLY," he told her, "You've been turning and

mumbling and crying all night. What's the matter?"

"I- I shot Phineas! He's probably dead!" she howled. She let her

head fall back on the fluffy stuff and started bawling uncontrollably.

"Phineas? Your brother-? Oh, you had a nightmare."

"No! Yesterday! He was on the hill, shooting everyone with a scary

ray and making them run away!"

"Oh, that's what you were shooting at!"

"Yes! I was trying to hit the gun, and I did, but I hit Phineas too!"

"Didn't you want to tear his head off?"

"Not literally!"

"You're sure you hit him?"

"People don't scream like that when they're kidding around."

"You could hear him from all the way over there?"

"Yeah, but if that wasn't enough, Isabella screamed right afterward,

louder, just to prove I'd shot him."

"So, you think your brother's dead, and that you're the one who killed

him?"

"Yes."

"No wonder you're upset."

Candace snorted. That was an understatement.

"And what's worse," she added, "is that I'll never be able to go home

now! Mom and Dad and Ferb and Perry will hate my guts for killing him!

They'll disown me for sure!"

"Hm... perhaps that's just as well, since we can't actually get you

back to the Sol system anyway."

"You can't take me back? Why not?"

"If one of our ships is seen heading for Earth, the Tkpxzv will

believe that your race is helping us, and they will swoop down upon your

little planet and destroy it."

Candace groaned. "Does that mean I'm stuck here, then?"

"Yes, Candace, you're marooned on Tizilidai, planet of the Alions."

Candace sat up. "Wait, we're on YOUR planet now?"

"Trag, we flew here yesterday after the battle, remember?"

Sort of, "I was kinda-"

"Trag, trag, I know."

"So then... what happens now?"

"I don't know, whatever you want. I suggest you learn the ways of our

people and join with us... unless you want to be a hermit and go live in a

cave or something."

"Are those my only options?"

"Uhh... I guess you could live on one of our allies' planets or

something..."

"Any others?"

"Not really."

Candace looked at the odd creature before her. Never in her life

would she have expected to join an alien race... or even SEE one.

"I guess this is the start of a new life for me, huh?"

Xosizi nodded, "I'm sorry Candace. I wish I could make everything go

back to the way it was for you. Only the heavens have such great power now."

Candace laid back down again. She sighed a long, mournful sigh. She

and Xosizi were silent for a while.

Candace finally spoke, "Where do I start?" she asked.

"That's up to you, really. I can teach you what I know, but, all I

know is how to be warrior... then again, that's all most Alions know."

"I guess I'm going to be a warrior then," Candace muttered.

"Do you want me as your teacher? There are other Alions-"

"Sure, why not?" Candace replied.

Xosizi eyed her curiously, "This will be... interesting."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a bitter, hard old soldier, Candace. I never married. I have no

children."

"Yeatrag?"

"Sometimes, I look back on my life, and regret never having a family."

"So?"

"During those times, I prayed to the heavens, asking them to somehow

fix my mistakes... to let me have the honor of being a father."

"Trag..."

"I thought they had forgotten me. I'm too old. I was sure my prayers

had been in vain."

"But?"

"I wonder if they've finally answered my prayers."

"How?"

"Through you, dummy," Xosizi growled.

Candace wrinkled her nose. It didn't seem likely to her.

Xosizi grinned, "Don't think so, eh?"

Candace shook her head.

"Oh, well. I can train you anyway." he said.

"Cool. What should I do first?"

"What do you WANT to do first? Personally, I could use some

breakfast," Xosizi griped.

Candace was about to latch onto the idea, until she remembered the

last thing she'd been given to eat by Xosizi was raw Tkpxzv meat, "I meant

like, training."

"I'm not training anything until I get something to eat!" Xosizi

growled, "I suppose YOUR stomach is in no need?"

Candace was hungry, but she wanted to put the raw meat off as long as

she could. She suddenly noticed a rancid stench. She sniffed her shirt.

"I don't know if I NEED food right now, but I do need a shower," she

responded.

Xosizi blinked, "Shower?" he repeated. Candace noticed that he said

the word 'shower' with his mouth, not through the communicator, "What's a

'shower'?"

"Ummm... a bath?" Candace tried.

"Oh. Trag, you could definitely use that. You smell like barf."

"Thanks."

"You want me to show you where the river's at?"

"River? What are you talking about?"

"Uh... a river... with water..."

"I know what a river is! Why are you talking about a river?"

"You wanted a bath..."

"Yeah, er-trag. So why don't you show me your bathtub?"

"Bathtub?" Candace noticed with rising horror that he said 'bathtub'

with his mouth, like he had 'shower', "What are you talking about?"

"You know... a tub you fill with water... that you bathe in?"

Xosizi blinked, "We just use the river," he replied.

"Seriously?"

"Why would I be kidding?"

Candace face palmed. This was going to be quite an adjustment.

"Okay, whatever. What do you have that I can wear when I'm done? I'm

really sick of these nasty pajamas."

"Wear?"

No way. Was he serious? He HAD to be kidding. Why was he asking

that question?

"Oh! You want clothes to put on after your bath!" Xosizi exclaimed.

Candace heaved a sigh of relief. THAT would've been bad.

"Nah, we don't have those," he responded.

"WHAT!" Candace shouted, "Now I know your pulling my leg! Even you...

you'rrre completely serious aren't you?"

Why hadn't she noticed it before? She looked at Xosizi in agony.

Except for the communicator on his head, the alien wasn't wearing a scrap of

clothing. She suddenly remembered that the Alions on his ship had also been

completely... um... yeah... this was bad. Really bad.

"I guess I'll just hang on to these smelly pajamas then," Candace said

morosely.

"Why?"

"What else am I supposed to wear?"

"Nobody wears clothes on this planet! Just throw those rags off and

be on your way!"

Candace slapped herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She was

really disappointed when she didn't wake up.

"Why'd you hit yourself?" Xosizi wondered.

"I can't run around naked! That's totally gross!" Candace yelled.

"Trag... actually you can."

"Ew!"

"It's not like anyone around here is the same species anyway, if

that's what you're worried about. No Alion is going to care if-"

"That's okay, that's REALLY okay, I'll just keep my jammies." Candace

retorted.

"Candace, you're starting a new life in a new culture. Leave your

past customs behind, it's all right. The things you were taught were just the

rules that your people developed, nothing more. The sooner you let go of them

and the sooner you embrace your new people and their customs the easier it'll

be for you. You'll be happier, too."

Candace smacked her forehead against the wall. She giggled slightly

under her breath. She couldn't believe she was really in this situation. She

could literally throw her pajamas away and go about in the nude... and no one

would even bat an eyelash. This was creepy on so many levels.

"So..." Xosizi continued, "What do you say? Shall I take these rags

and burn them?"

"No, I'll keep them."

"Why?"

Candace thought for a moment. She couldn't believe it, but it was

actually a valid question. Technically she didn't have to wear anything

around here if she didn't want to. There was no logical argument for keeping

her puke-pajamas. What if she did what he said? Candace had a sudden vision

of herself running around in a barrel.

"Well?" Xosizi prodded.

Candace looked at him, trying to come up with a good reply. She

didn't have one.

But she was still keeping her pajamas.

"Xosizi," Candace began, "Some experiences are too creepy for human

beings to endure, and running around naked is one of them."

Xosizi rolled his eyes at her, "All right, whatever. But I'd burn

those if I were you."

"Please don't."

"C'mon, I'll show you where the river's at."

Candace stood up to follow Xosizi outside. She gave the room a quick

glance to see what it looked like. It was a very Spartan place, with walls

made of what looked like mud brick, and a couple of black logs for furniture.

The fluffy thing she had slept on appeared to be the fur of some

strange-looking dead animal. There were no carpets for the floors, just

dirt. Various meats hung from the ceiling.

"Is... this where you live?" Candace asked tentatively.

"Yeah. I'm not here much, so I didn't bother making it big or

anything, I just put what I needed here," Xosizi replied.

"What do most Alion houses look like?"

"It depends. Lone wolves like me usually have simple houses like this

one, but people with families usually make themselves a big, stone house with

a tower on top."

"What's the tower for?"

"To watch for attacks. They don't happen much anymore since the

planet has been united, but the tradition stuck."

Xosizi walked through the doorway. Candace noted that there wasn't

a door there, just a hole to let people through. She had to crouch down to go

through the hole (it was only three feet high, Alion-sized). She squinted as

she emerged into the bright... it wasn't sunlight, exactly, since the star she

was near wasn't the sun, but it was the same deal.

She was surprised to find a world that was... not as weird as she

would have expected. The yard outside Xosizi's hut was mostly packed dirt...

brown dirt... just like Earth. The yard stretched out for a few hundred feet

in every direction. She could see other huts that looked much like Xosizi's

scattered randomly about in the yard. Candace was about to ask Xosizi if this

was his yard-then decided she was asking too many questions.

I'll make like Ferb and just observe for a while, she thought. She

figured this yard was probably a common yard for all these houses. It seemed

pretty drab, but at least it was big. There seemed to be no other major

features to it. It was just a big dirt field with huts on it.

Candace followed Xosizi as he walked past the different houses. A few

other Alions were there. One was dragging some meat to his hut. Two others

were sparring with each other. Candace looked into the sky. At least it was

interesting. It was blue... but it was a beautiful dark turquoise. The star,

whatever it was called, shined brilliantly, glittering through it like a white

diamond. Looking back down, Candace could see some snow covered mountains in the

distance. Seeing the snow made her realize how cool it was out there. A cold

breeze wafted past, ruffling her ragged hair and kicking up some dust.

Candace took a breath as the breeze blew. She smiled. Tizilidai

wasn't very interesting, but it gave her a sense of freedom and calm that she

wasn't used to. She could see that it was a hard place, but that it was a

good place too.

Soon Candace and Xosizi were past the houses and at the river. It sat

at the edge of the yard. It was about eight feet wide and maybe three feet

deep. There were no plants around it, which Candace thought was kind of

strange. She wanted to ask why it's banks were barren, but again decided it

was better to just observe.

"Here we are," Xosizi said.

"Cool."

"Need anything?"

Candace thought of asking for soap... but decided to forgo it. She

figured the Alions weren't big on soap... if they even had it.

"No," she responded.

"All right, I'll be back at the hut when you're done."

"Cool."

Xosizi turned and began walking back to the house. Candace looked

down at the water. She knew it was going to be cold because of the air

temperature. A part of her hesitated. Normally she would have tested the

water, perhaps eased herself into it... but then again, she normally wouldn't

have gotten in at all. Candace Flynn didn't bathe in a river.

Candace decided to stop thinking about it and just get in. She took

the communicator headphones off, bent her knees and leapt into the air,

tucking her legs up against her body as she did.

"CANNONBALL!" she yelled.

She crashed down with a satisfying splash-then went rigid. It felt

like she'd just jumped in the ocean off the coast of Antarctica. Candace was

about to freak and jump out-but then she restrained herself, and, though she

was breathing hard, relaxed, walked to the bank and sat down against it. Her

body adjusted quickly to the frigid water, especially because all her clothes

were still on, and she soon found herself just staring into space.

_Why am I so calm?_ she wondered. She'd just walked the entire five,

six hundred feet from Xosizi's house without saying a word. When she did

finally talk, it was when Xosizi spoke to her, and then she'd given minimal

responses. She hadn't even bothered asking for soap! Then she'd cannonballed

straight into a freezing river... and hadn't even bothered to scream about it.

She looked off at the opposite bank. Not far from it, a field of some kind of

tall, white grass swayed in the wind.

It's really quiet here, Candace thought, normally I'd think this was

boring, but for some reason it just seems really peaceful. Maybe that was why

she was so calm. The whole environment was calm, so why wouldn't she be?

Maybe it was also the fact that she didn't really have anything to

worry about either. She'd killed Phineas, which was devastating for her, but,

since it meant she couldn't go home, it also meant her old life was gone. It

had already been wrecked, but now it had been wiped away, and here she was, on

Tizilidai, starting a new life.

I don't have to be the same person I was on Earth, Candace realized, I

can be anything I want. She looked into the sky again. Candace Flynn hated

the outdoors, but Candace... just Candace, she decided, didn't.

Candace, huh? A strange thought came to her. She would bring it up

with Xosizi later.

Anyway, she was actually LIKING the outdoors right now. Something

inside her had definitely changed, just like that. Should she have been

worried? Candace smiled to herself and settled back against the riverbank.

Nah. For once, she was actually enjoying life. Because of everything that

had happened, she should've been frantic, but-she wasn't. Candace shoved the

subject away.

"I'm starting over with a clean slate. The past is gone and I'm gonna

let it go," Candace finally said to herself, "My old life is over... it's sad,

but true. But hey, now I can make a better one."

Candace sat there for a long time, enjoying, for once, the world being

at rest. Eventually, she washed herself and her clothes off as best she

could, then got out and sat on a rock on the riverbank to dry. As she sat,

Xosizi returned. He was carrying two huge chunks of meat.

"Yakl!" he hailed her.

Candace turned and looked at him. She realized her headset was still

off.

"Hey," she replied.

Xosizi sighed, "Kiotha ith vafliak!" he growled, pointing to his

mouth.

Candace laughed. She stopped short... it seemed... strange to her to

be laughing... not that it was weird for her to laugh, but it was weird that

she was laughing at something just because it was funny, not because she had a

devious brother-busting scheme up her sleeve, or because Jeremy was making her

nervous, or...

"Gosh... was I really that uptight?" she asked herself.

"Fir thya jik ta?" Xosizi barked angrily.

She laughed again. She didn't speak Alion but she knew what he'd said

both times. First sentence was, "Speak the language!" and the second was "Did

you hear me?"

Candace thought a moment, "Ta jik thya," (Literally, "Me hear you.")

she replied simply.

Xosizi seemed impressed, "Skirth hoorg," ("Not bad.")

"Thanks," Candace replied.

"Kuth?" he wondered.

"You just said, 'what?', didn't you?"

"Kuth? Uth haskirth eemilik kuth thya sheema," he repeated, shrugging.

Candace pointed to the communicator, "Hand me that, will you?"

Xosizi looked at it. He shoved the meat into his right arm and picked

up the headphones with his left. He tossed it to her and she caught it and

put it on.

"What did you just say?" Xosizi asked her.

"I said, 'Thanks.'"

"Oh. You picked that stuff up fast, kid."

"You were saying some pretty common stuff."

"True, but it was still impressive. Want some breakfast?"

"I would love some."

Xosizi threw her one of the hunks of meat. Candace caught it and bit

into it. It was thick and tough and chewy and all around REALLY good. It was

like sinking her teeth into a ten-inch thick slab of extremely juicy beef jerky.

"You guys have great meat," Candace remarked.

"Always hunted straight from the wild, no slaughterhouses for us!" he

responded.

"Mmmm..." was all Candace could say.

The two devoured their meat with ravenous abandon. Xosizi even ate

the bones. Candace threw hers across the river. Her teeth just weren't that

hard. The two sat and gazed into the distance, enjoying the day. As they

did, Candace remembered something that she'd wanted to ask Xosizi.

"Hey, Xosizi, I'm starting a new life, right?"

"Trag."

"So, I can be anyone I want to be, right?"

"Trag."

"I was thinking... maybe I should get a new name."

He looked at her, "Do you not like 'Candace'?"

She shrugged. "I like it, but I thought maybe I could have an Alion

name, too."

"I suppose you could do that," he replied thoughtfully.

"What are some good names?" she asked.

"Are you going to choose a name for yourself?"

"That was the idea."

"Maybe I should choose it."

Candace blinked, "Why would you choose... oh, I get it, you're still

on that father-daughter thing, aren't you?"

"Trag."

Candace thought a bit, "I guess that's fine, just make sure you give

me a good one."

Xosizi seemed pleased by this, "I certainly will." he said.

Doofenshmirtz blasted down the trailer door. Actually he

disintegrated it.

"Good heavens, what was that?" Lawrence's voice cried.

Doofenshmirtz charged through the door and found Linda and Lawrence

Flynn-Fletcher sitting at a pull-out table playing cards. He aimed his

gun at them.

"You two have five seconds to show me where Perry the Platypus is at

before I disintegratinate you!" the mad scientist roared.

Linda and Lawrence threw their hands up, "Perry left a couple days

ago!" Linda yelled fearfully.

"He and Ferb took off to find Candace on a rocket ship!" Lawrence

added.

"A likely story! Where is he?" Doofenshmirtz screamed.

"Look at the backyard if you don't believe us!" Linda snapped.

Doofenshmirtz walked to a window and looked out at the huge scorch

mark the rocket had left on the grass.

"Wow, that's impressive!" he exclaimed.

"No kidding," Lawrence said.

"So if Perry the Platypus is gone, that means... I'm free to take over

the Tri-State Area! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" Doofenshmirtz cackled. He ran

back out the door and off for what was left of Doofenshmirtz Evil

Incorporated.

Stacy was bored out of her guts. She'd been on this rocket for what

seemed like an eternity. Ferb and Perry still didn't know she was there,

though they were beginning to wonder why random morsels of dehydrated food

were disappearing from their supplies.

"Here we are, Epsilon Eridani system!" Ferb's voice announced.

Stacy perked up. She recognized the weird name from Ferb's

conversation with Phineas, Isabella and the alien.

"This is where Candace and Phineas were headed to," Ferb continued,

"With any luck both of them will be in this system!"

Stacy heard Perry growl in agreement. She smiled. It sounded like

they were close.

"Scans show that the spacecraft Phineas was on is landed at the fourth

planet from this star. Many other spacecraft like it are orbiting the planet.

Perhaps they have captured it."

There was a pause. Stacy heard Perry growl a bit.

"You think we should call the craft Phineas was on? I guess we can

try. Perhaps he's found her already. If he has, maybe we can negotiate a

ransom for her return."

There was a long pause. Stacy peeked out from the crates she was

behind and saw that Ferb was playing with Phineas' SETI device. Soon she

heard a voice come from the device.

"Hgtfpjsh speaking, is this Ferb from the previous transmission?"

"Yes, yes it is."

"Why are you calling me? You realize I can have you arrested... or I

would've been able to, if you hadn't arrived so late."

"What do you mean?"

"This system is no longer owned by the enemy race. We defeated them

nearly two Earth days ago... so you can now be here legally... as long as you

don't break Tkpxzv law. Stay away from the fifth planet in this system,

however. We still have enemies there, and any ship seen heading that direction

will be intercepted."

"Noted. Is Phineas with you? He's the one I wish to speak with."

"He's at the governing planet for Alpha Centauri sector, around the

star you call Sirius."

Ferb face palmed, "He's at Sirius?" he groaned.

"He has gone there to receive an award for his services to us and also

to await his next assignment."

"Services? Assignment? What are you talking about?"

"Did Phineas not tell you? He's working for us. He designed the

gadget that gave us victory over this planet!"

"He did? What did he build?"

"That's classified. Just know that he's doing very well for himself."

"I'm sure he is," Ferb sneered, "Did you find Candace?"

"Yes, and she put four bullets in your younger brother, good thing I

was there to save him."

"What? Candace shot Phineas?"

"Candace attempted to help our enemies defeat us in the battle a couple

of days ago. She and Phineas got into a firefight as he sat behind his

device. Apparently she's a better shot than he is."

"But Phineas survived?"

"He quite healthy, I assure you. We Tkpxzv can heal the injured very

quickly."

"Did you capture Candace?"

"She escaped. We don't know where she went."

"You have no idea?"

"We figure she's either still hiding on the planet somewhere, or

that she has escaped into space."

"You know nothing else?"

"Nothing. I don't believe your brother knows any more than I do,

either. We were both there the last time he saw her."

Ferb scratched his chin, "May I come down to the planet to take a

look?"

"I suppose, but don't try anything funny, and follow the orders of the

Tkpxzv, this is our territory!"

"Very well. Where was the battle fought at?"

"Red River Bridge. I'll send you the coordinates."

"Thank you."

"I hope you find your sister. She's caused us nothing but trouble

since we captured her. If you find her, take her to Earth and tell her never

to come back!"

"I'll do that."

"Good. Out."

The line went dead. After a few seconds a beeping noise came from the

control panel.

"Well Perry, there are the coordinates. I guess our next stop is Red

River Bridge!"

Perry growled.

Stacy tensed in anticipation. Pretty soon she would walk off this

ship and start looking for clues to help her find her friend.

"Where is she at!"

Isabella looked over at the intensely frustrated Phineas. He was on

fire. He had a great job, he was still creating, and the Tkpxzv were eating

out of the palm of his hand.

But Candace was still bothering him.

Isabella would've asked him why he even cared anymore, except now SHE

wanted to get even with Candace too.

"She must still be on the planet somewhere," Isabella replied.

"It's just like she disappeared!"

"The Alions did too. What happened to them?" As the Alions had fled

the Candasaurus planet, they had turned on the cloaking devices on their ships

and escaped undetected. But Isabella, Phineas and the Tkpxzv didn't know

that.

"It's really weird... I can't shake this feeling that her

disappearance and the Alions are connected. She was with them before, wasn't

she?"

"Yes?"

"I'll bet if we find the Alions, we find Candace."

"Maybe."

Phineas sighed. "But then that begs the question, where did THEY go?"

"There weren't any ships flying away after the battle, so they must

still be on the planet."

"The Tkpxzv scanned the planet over and over. They can't find any

concentrations of Alions anywhere. That many creatures can't just vanish into

thin air!"

"Well, where else would they be?"

"I wonder if they escaped to their home world somehow, and if Candace

is there."

"Don't the Alions-"

"Yes, they have a huge guard fleet protecting their planet. If

Candace is there, then it would take a whole fleet of warships to get her

back."

"Hopefully she's still on the Candasaurus planet."

"Hopefully."

"Captain Flynn!"

Phineas and Isabella turned and saw a Tkpxzv enter the room.

"What?" Phineas asked.

"The Governor has your new assignment. He wishes to speak with you.

Bring your friend as well."

"So this is what having a job is like," Phineas muttered, "Your life

is no longer your own. Actually it's not that different from school."

"In Fireside Girls they call it 'responsibility'," Isabella added.

Phineas and Isabella followed the Tkpxzv out of the room, wondering

what was next.

"So... now what?" Candace asked. She and Xosizi were still sitting

beside the river. She was dry, and also a little bored.

"I already reported the loss of the Trisaria to the War Elders via

radio, so... I'm off duty until they give me a new assignment. Oh, wait, I

forgot the spanking."

"The spanking?"

"It's an Alion tradition. Every time a warrior runs from a battle, he

must punish himself by giving himself ten spanks in public."

"Seriously?" Candace asked incredulously.

"Trag."

"That's really stupid."

"There has to be some penalty for it."

"Whatever."

"I guess you count as 'in public'," Xosizi sighed, "Here goes."

Candace watched as Xosizi reached back and swatted himself on the

behind.

WHACK!

"Oof! One!" Xosizi yelled.

Candace watched in confusion as he smacked himself again.

WHACK!

"Ow! Two!"

Candace stared, mouth agape as he hit his own rump two more times. On

the fifth smack she burst out laughing.

WHACK!

"Urf! Five!"

"AHAHAHAHA!" Candace screamed.

WHACK!"

"Six!"

"HAHAHEEHEE!"

WHACK!

"Urgh! Seven!"

"Stop, I can't-*hic*-take it! HEEHEEHEE!"

WHACK!

"Uhn! Eight!"

"Oh my gosh, I cannot believe what I'm seeing! HAHA!"

WHACK!

"Nine!"

"Someone pinch me, this can't be real!"

WHACK!"

"Uhhh... ten."

Candace was pounding on the rock she was sitting on, her head thrown

back in uncontrollable laughter.

Xosizi rubbed his sore hindquarters, "My butt hurts." he growled,

causing Candace to laugh even harder.

"W-w-hahaha-y did you do that?" Candace chuckled.

"I ran from the battle. I had to, but the penalty still remains.

You get off easy though. You didn't run, you just stood there and I had to

carry you off."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Xosizi shrugged, "Don't worry about it. You did good for a civilian.

You just need to be trained in the ways of the warrior."

"Okay, so, first lesson is, 'Don't run from a battle unless you want

to spank yourself ten times in public,' am I right?"

"Sure, whatever," Xosizi grumbled irritably.

"Cool. What's the second lesson?"

"I'll get to that later. Right now we have to pack."

"Pack?"

"Whenever a child comes of age, he or she is taken to the Tribe Elders

for initiation. Since you're already of age, we can just go straight to it."

Initiation? That didn't sound good. Images of college kids and

idiotic fraternity/sorority pranks played through Candace's mind.

"W-what do they do to you for initiation?" Candace asked nervously.

Xosizi cocked his head, "Do TO you? Nothing really. They teach you

some Alion folklore, give you your weapon, and prophesy your destiny."

"They prophesy your destiny? What does that mean?"

"The prophet gives you a blessing, and also gives you advice from the

heavens on how to fulfill your destiny, whatever it is."

"Like fortune telling?"

"Skirth. It will probably hint at the future, but seldom do the

heavens tell you what will happen outright. If you knew all, you could not

gain the faith and the courage you need for life and the eternities. That's

lesson two, by the way."

"Okay... what else do they do?"

"You will also choose an occupation, though you are free to change

that as you please, be given basic instruction on your duties as a warrior,

take the warrior oath, have a trainer chosen for you, probably me, and begin

your training. Oh, you also receive your Spirit Rock."

"Spirit Rock?"

"Remember how I said you were Fire Spirit?"

"Yea-trag."

"You receive a stone that you can channel your spirit and the spirit

of your element through."

"Meaning?"

"I'm a water type, right? I can draw upon the strength the water has

when I'm near it, provided I have my Rock. It also enhances personality

traits relating to it, such as wisdom."

"This sounds complicated."

"It is a lot, but I think you'll enjoy it. You learn a lot about

yourself during initiation."

"How long is it?"

"Just a day, usually, depending on how long the different rituals

take."

"Do... any of the rituals hurt? Or are any of them freaky?"

"Skirth. Fear not, Candace, the rituals are quite tame. The only

ones that might be a little strange are the ones involving prophecy, but they

aren't that bad."

Candace wasn't totally reassured, but her curiosity was definitely

piqued, "All right then, so why do we have to pack for this?"

"It's a day's walk to the nearest village council. I live out in the

middle of nowhere."

"Great," Candace wasn't big on hiking. Still... maybe Alion warrior

Candace was all right with it.

"I'll teach you some things as we go," he looked at the sun, "We'd

better get moving though, if we want to be at the village by tomorrow

morning."

The two walked back to Xosizi's hut to pack. It didn't take long,

however, since it was a short trip. All they brought was some meat, a couple

of furs for bedrolls, water, money, two walking sticks, two knives and, of

course, bags to carry it all in.

"What're the knives for?" Candace asked.

"Defense. It is quite common for people to be attacked on the trail."

Candace gulped. "People get attacked on the trail? Why? Where are

the police?"

"We don't have police. Alions take care of themselves. Don't worry

though, we'll probably survive. Probably."

Candace bit her lip. She was in a strange place, "Why are we

walking, anyway? You have spaceships, shouldn't you have cars or something?"

"We are a very advanced society, Candace, which is why we stick to the

old ways even though technology has technically made it unnecessary. I don't

have a car anyway."

"Can't someone give us a ride or something? It sounds safer."

"Candace, relax. We'll be fine, I promise you... oh, important note.

If we are attacked, defeat the attacker with your stick, not your knife. Only

use the knife if I tell you to, or if you have pinned your opponent. If you

pin your enemy, hold the knife to his or her throat, but do nothing more.

Understood?"

"I guess... why?"

"You'll find out."

Soon the two of them were off. The rocky trail cut through a thick

forest. Luckily for Candace it was mostly downhill, so the hike wasn't too

difficult, though she tripped a couple times. Xosizi chattered as they went,

teaching Candace various things about Alion culture and giving Candace random

warrior tips. Sometime during mid-afternoon, they stopped for lunch.

Xosizi and Candace sat on a rock next to the trail. They both pulled

hunks of meat for themselves and dug in.

"Do you guys eat anything besides meat?" Candace asked.

"Alions are carnivorous. You took so well to the meat that I'd

assumed you were too."

"Hm... I wonder if there are some plants here I can eat. I'll

probably get sick if I only eat meat."

"Humans aren't herbivores, are they?"

"Omnivores. We eat plants AND meat."

"Oh, you're like the Candasaurs. Hm... I think the needles on these

trees are edible... or at least non-toxic."

Candace looked at trees above her. The forest they were in was a lot

like a ponderosa pine forest on Earth, only the trees were taller and thinner,

though with stronger wood. They had silver-colored bark and deep blue

needles.

Candace took her knife and cut off a piece of a branch. She bit into

some needles.

"How does it taste?" Xosizi asked.

"Tastes like dirt, except it's not grainy," Candace griped, wrinkling

her nose.

"Hm... well, there should be fruits and vegetables in the village

market. Lucky for you, you're not the only alien on this planet. Other

creatures live among us, some of whom require plant matter in their diets."

Candace swallowed her needles. She thought it was weird to be

referred to as an "alien," "What other kinds of Aliens are here?"

"A lot, but usually there aren't very many of any single species.

Most of them were random aliens rescued from Tkpxzv craft. The most

substantial minority groups are aliens we're allied with."

"Wait... so there are Candasaurs here?"

"Trag, you can find them mingled in the populace here and there.

There's a joke here that the Candasaurs didn't have an army because all their

warriors wanted to live on Tzilidai."

"Huh..."

The two finished eating then began walking again. Xosizi was quieter

this time. The two didn't speak much until sunset.

"Candace, what do you like to do?" Xosizi asked.

Candace perked up, "Hm?"

"What do you like to do? You know, as a hobby or something."

"Oh..." Candace was surprised to be getting such a normal question

from Xosizi, "Well... I used to like busting my brothers... and I liked going

to the mall... and I like to sing."

Xosizi smiled, "I gathered that from your little concert down in

Candasaurus City. Do you play any instruments?"

"Lots, especially ones that start with the letter B."

"I don't recognize that letter, but I assume it's from your tongue.

You should begin considering what occupation you would like, in addition to

being a warrior, I mean. All Alions are warriors, but other tasks must be

done as well. They'll ask you what you would like to do during the

initiation."

"Oh... what jobs are there?"

"There are many, just like where you're from, I'm sure. It sounds to

me like you might enjoy being a musician."

"Yeah, I would probably like that."

"You may want to choose that, then. Alions like music as much as

anyone else, but our warrior culture produces very few musicians, and even

fewer good ones. The Elders would be delighted to find one interested in

music as a career."

"Cool. I guess I'm going to be Tizilidai's newest musician."

They walked a little longer.

"Xosizi?"

"Trag?"

"I told you about my life back when you first rescued me, but I never

heard about your life."

"The 'life' you ask about is mostly a lot of violence and bloodshed.

I was born in the village we are heading for. I had a good mother and father

who taught me well. As I grew, I wanted nothing more than to be a warrior.

My desire was greater even than that of my peers. In the war games we played,

I proved to be one of the all-around best soldiers. I was a natural. When I

reached initiation, they asked me what I wanted to do as an occupation. I

told them I wanted to be a warrior."

"Hold on... I thought ALL Alions were warriors."

"They are. When one asks to be a warrior as an occupation, he enters

the Guard of Death and Life."

"What's that?"

"They are the greatest warriors in the known universe. They are the

keepers of life and death for all... the protectors of the lives of those they

defend, and the death of all who oppose them."

"So, they're kind of like the Marines?"

"Marines?"

"Umm... they're some kind of super-elite bunch of warriors?"

"Super SUPER elite warriors."

"Whoa."

"Members of the Guard, which I did become a part of, by the way, are

taught nothing but war. Their entire lives are consumed by the laws of force.

Their fate and their honor is to die for their people, or to destroy all of

their enemies and see their loved ones live in peace. They, I, am sworn to

never stop fighting until I am dead, or until all of our enemies are."

"Gosh."

"I was put through five years of pure hell to train to become a Guard,

but I did it, and I swore the oath, and I have spent my entire life fulfilling

it. After my training my life has been one battle, one campaign, one war

after another. Blood, carnage, death, violence... they are like brothers and

sisters to me. War is my life, it's all I've ever known, it's all I know now,

and unless the Tkpxzv and their allies are defeated somehow, it's probably all

I will ever know."

Candace didn't know what to say. She was amazed that Xosizi was able

to live like he did, but she wondered a little...

"Do you... ever regret becoming a Guard?"

Xosizi turned one of his stalks to look Candace in the eye, "All the

time," he replied, "But I what I regret the most, is that, after all of our

efforts, after all of MY efforts, and after all these years, my people still

do not know peace. They are free, but the shadow of the Tkpxzv and their

empire hangs over my brothers and sisters, constantly threatening to destroy

them, or worse, to enslave them."

"Death is better than slavery?"

"Much."

"If you say so."

"My greatest regret... is that I'm so old. I fear I will die before I

can bring my people peace, before I can destroy their enemies and save them.

What I fear even more, however, is that I will live long enough to see the

downfall of my people. They are strong, but the Tkpxzv are so numerous and so

powerful that our ultimate defeat is almost inevitable."

"So... the Alions are basically living on borrowed time?"

"Trag."

"That stinks."

"No kidding."

"Isn't there something you can do?"

"We're doing all we can, but we are being slowly beaten. It's our one

planet against their hundreds of star systems. We'll hold them back as long

as we can, and then die like true warriors."

The two continued their walk, looking much more downcast than before.

Epsilon Eridani set and stars began to appear. Xosizi stared up at them as he

walked.

"Candace?"

"What?"

"Do you believe anything's up there?"

"Where? In the sky? There's a lot of stuff up there."

"Skirth, skirth, do you believe that there's some kind of all-powerful

being or force that rules the universe?"

Candace thought for a moment, "Yes, yes I do," she decided.

"Really? Why?"

Candace was a little taken aback by the bluntness of the response.

"Do you not? You keep mentioning the heavens and stuff."

"I do... sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Answer MY question first."

"Okay, well, I can't count how many times my brothers were saved from

me by divine intervention... and then there was that weird dream I had a

couple weeks before all this started... and that time the squid fell out of

the sky when I got mad-"

"How do you know those things aren't coincidences?"

"They happen too often."

"Any other reasons?"

"Not really."

"Your evidence is weak."

"Hey, I don't know a whole lot about religion, I just know that

something out there likes to interfere with my life."

Xosizi snorted, "Something just made it too hard to bust your

brothers for it to be a coincidence, huh?"

"I did actually find out what it was later... but there was still that

time they helped me find my phone... and that star that twinkled when I

thanked them."

"Still not much."

"You seem kind of bitter about this."

"I am," Xosizi growled, "I, like you, have seen enough evidence of a

higher power to believe that it exists, but I'm beginning to think that it

doesn't care for us, whatever it is."

"I thought the busting gods hated me, but I didn't think GOD hated

me."

"Where is the justice, Candace? We, like the Candasaurs, have prayed

for years that the heavens would send help, and what have the heavens done?

Nothing. Do the heavens care that the Candasaurs have been enslaved? Not

that I can see. If anything, they sent their false goddess to them as a cruel

joke on the eve of their destruction-no offense."

"None taken."

"Do the heavens care that thousands upon thousands upon thousands of

my courageous brothers and sisters have died trying to save other races from

death and slavery, only to have their sacrifices all come to naught? Do the

heavens care that so many of my people have fought and bled their entire lives

to hold back the Tkpxzv? Why do they not send vengeance upon our enemies?

Why do they ignore our pleas for help? The cause of our people is just and

right, and yet the heavens do nothing to support us, if anything, they have

fought against us and allowed the Tkpxzv to destroy our allies and soon, it

appears us."

Candace didn't respond. Xosizi continued, "Whatever's up there

doesn't care about us mere mortals. It doesn't care about justice or right.

I don't know if it cares about anything, really."

The two marched on in silence. Candace mulled everything over in her

mind. In spite of all her troubles, she couldn't shake the feeling that

Xosizi was wrong, for once. She remembered something he'd said earlier.

"If you knew all, you could not gain the faith and the courage you

need for life and for the eternities," she finally whispered.

"What?"

"You said that this morning."

"I did, didn't I?"

"Do you not believe it?"

Xosizi scowled. He seemed to be thinking.

"Maybe you did, but you're not so sure now," Candace tried.

"I clung firmly to my old beliefs until yesterday, after we lost

Candace City. I had hoped, especially because you appeared, that maybe, just

maybe, the heavens had finally answered our cries, and they had sent us a

savior, though an unlikely one, to perform a great miracle and finally turn

the tide of this war. But my faith was all in vain. I'm beginning to think

perhaps all these things I've been teaching you are false."

Candace looked at the stars. What Xosizi was saying made sense... and

yet, something within her, for some reason, refused to believe it.

"Do you have anything to say, Candace?"

"I... I don't know. I understand what you're saying, and it makes

sense... but..."

"But what?"

Candace sighed, still gazing at the stars, "We can't give up."

"I'm aware of that."

"No, not the war, we can't give up our faith."

"Why?"

"Because... because someone up there is watching over us. And he or

she or it knows what's happening, and he or she or it will save us in the end,

but only if we trust it."

"How do you know?"

"I don't. But I believe."

"Well, I hope you're right, for the sake of whatever good is left in

this miserable universe."

The two trudged onward. Soon they stopped to make camp, which

basically meant they spread their furs on the ground and laid down on them.

The two had scarcely done so, when Xosizi suddenly sat bolt upright.

Candace sat up too, "What?" she asked.

"Shh!" Xosizi replied.

Candace listened carefully. She heard a twig snap in the forest.

"Grab your weapons!" Xosizi cried. Right as he did, an Alion burst

out of the forest, leaping at him.

Candace screamed and grabbed her stick. The Alion took a slice at

Xosizi as it flew and got itself clocked in the face. Candace was just

getting to her feet as two more Alions leapt from the brush and charged

Xosizi. Candace stood frozen as he yanked up his stick and stuck one of his

foes in the gut with it. The other two both ran at him from opposite

directions, spitting madly. Xosizi simply pulled his stick back and held it

horizontally against his chest, causing both of them the run into the ends.

As the stunned Candace watched Xosizi fight, her legs suddenly flew

out from under her and she landed hard on the ground. She felt a couple of

strong hands clench over her shoulders and pin her to the dirt.

"Jukith hiy filith myak!" Candace heard something say over her head.

She took a quick glance back and saw an Alion on her shoulders. It's

jaw was heading for her neck.

Candace squealed and jumped back to her feet, causing the surprised

creature to fall off. Another Alion tackled her legs again, only this time

she tried to move, causing it to only get one of her legs. She swung the one

latched onto her leg into the Alion that had fallen off earlier, sending them

tumbling a few feet. They both recovered and got up, giving Candace just

enough time to face them and get into some sort of fighting stance. One of

them roared and ran at her. The other one spat a large bunch of green glop

from it's nose into her face.

"EEWWW!" Candace yelped in surprise. The first Alion tackled her

again, landing on her chest and slamming her to the ground, causing her to

drop her stick. It pinned her arms down and roared at her. Candace could

feel it's hot breath on her face. She knew this thing was going to eat her if

she didn't act fast. She lurched forward and bit one of it's limbs, causing it

to release her right arm. She used her free hand to grab her knife (which was

on her hip) and swing it at her attacker. As she did she suddenly remembered

that Xosizi had told her not to use her knife unless she had the enemy pinned.

She managed to give the Alion a good cut across the chest. It immediately let

go and jumped back, eyes wide with shock. Candace leapt to her feet and

raised the knife, poised to strike again. The Alion clutched it's wound and

stepped back. The other Alion began racing for Candace. She pointed the

knife at it, causing it to freeze.

"GET BACK BOTH OF YOU OR I'LL SLICE YOU TO RIBBONS!" Candace shouted.

She knew Xosizi didn't want her to use the knife, but she figured not getting

eaten was more important at the moment.

The two Alions began stepping back. Both of them were waving their

hands at her and shaking their heads.

"Kireeth! Kireeth!" the uninjured one cried.

"Xosizi! What does 'Kireeth' mean?" Candace yelled.

Xosizi was currently engaged in a vicious stick grapple with one of

the Alions while flapping his wings to keep the two foes on his flanks at bay.

"It means, 'Easy'! Why?" he yelled back.

"This guy's saying, 'Easy! Easy!'"

"Why is he asking you to-" Xosizi somersaulted away from his foes,

making them fall into each other, "-take it easy? And how-?"

Xosizi looked over and noticed Candace towering over the Alions with

her knife. He also saw one of them crouched down and clutching his torso.

"Oh my gosh! Candace did you-hold on-STOOOOPPPP!" Xosizi roared.

The Alions attacking him ceased immediately. Xosizi ran past Candace

and crouched down next to the wounded Alion.

"Pexwrith, how badly are you hurt?" Xosizi asked him.

Candace blinked in surprise. "You know this guy?"

Pexwrith repied to Xosizi in Alion.

"You must be getting pretty rusty to get cut open by a green warrior,"

Xosizi chuckled, then turned to the rest of the group, "He's got a new battle

scar, but he'll live. Bring him a bandage!"

One of the Alions Xosizi had fought with dashed off into the trees.

The other two ran to their fallen companion's side.

"Xosizi! What is going on?" Candace asked confusedly.

Xosizi stood up and turned to Candace, smiling, "I told you not to use

the knife!"

"He was about to bite my head off!"

"No, you THOUGHT he was about to bite your head off. We were never

actually in any danger. These guys are part of the Highway Raiders. They're

paid by the government to attack travelers in order to keep them sharp."

"Your government PAYS people to attack their own citizens?"

"Trag. But they don't actually hurt them, they just engage them in an

intense fight so they don't lose their combat skills. It's a public service."

"Is that why you didn't want me to use the knife?"

"Trag."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew that if we got attacked it would scare the crud

outta you and I'd get to laugh at you afterward."

Candace gave Xosizi a dirty look as he then proceeded to laugh at her.

"It's really not that funny," Candace pointed out.

"Yeah, you slicing him across the chest kind of ruined the moment."

"Is he all right?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He's had worse."

Candace watched as the Alion that had left came back with a large

cloth bandage and handed it to Pexwrith, who quickly tied it around himself.

"How do you know them?" Candace asked.

"They were the first Highway Raiders that ever ambushed me. They

attacked me and my parents when I was going to my initiation. That was a long

time ago."

"Did you win?"

"My parents did. I got smashed. I finally avenged myself tonight,

though. Always nice to settle an old grudge..."

"What happened after the fight? Do you get a prize if you win?"

"Skirth. After that fight we sat down with them and talked and had

lunch together. We've been good friends ever since."

Candace shook her head and smiled. The Alions were some weird people.

One of the Alions walked over to Xosizi, pulled up one of his

earphones and then screamed something in Alion into his ear hole. Candace

cringed as a (very loud) voice screeched from her headphones.

"I'VE NEVER SEEN YOUR RACE BEFORE, WHAT ARE YOU?"

Xosizi slapped his giggling friend and handed him the headphones.

"Uhh... what or who?" Candace wondered.

"Both!" Xosizi's friend replied.

"I'm Candace Flynn, a human from Earth."

"You sure are quick with a knife! This ol' bonehead Xosizi decided

not to tell you about us Highway Raiders, I'm guessing."

"Skirth he didn't."

The Alion made an overdramatic sigh, "Xosizi, why? Why are you such

an idiot? This kid almost killed Pexwrith because you were so stupid!"

Xosizi yelled back irritably in Alion.

"What do you mean HE'S the stupid one?"

Xosizi yammered back.

"Hey, even a good warrior can be surprised."

Xosizi spat something back.

"Who's making an excuse for being a sore loser?"

Xosizi gently put his hand on his friend's shoulder, looked into his

stalk eyes and said something very quietly in Alion, then turned and began

walking away.

"What! Oh! Oh! It's on now! Those are fightin' words! Candace,

hold these will you?"

"Uh..." she grunted.

He yanked off the earphones and stuffed them into Candace's gut. Then

he marched after Xosizi.

"Xyacath naklarth!" he yelled.

"Warkeegya jagga!" Xosizi shot back, turning and stopping.

"Juparlatha yigithack yarit!"

"Zxihitha nidoyu!"

Candace watched in utter befuddlement as the two Alions shouted back

and forth in strange tongues. They got louder and louder until Xosizi finally

roared and jumped on the other guy, starting an intense wrestling match with

lots of punching, scratching and Alion curse words. Candace couldn't figure

out if they were actually mad at each other or if this was just Alion guy

love. She decided to let them kill each other and walked over to Pexwrith and

the other two Alions. They were sitting and talking to one another. They

eyed Candace as she approached. Candace handed Pexwrith the earphones, and he

put them on.

"Sorry about the cut, I thought you were gonna bite my head off!"

Candace said apologetically.

"Sorry? That's all you got to say? Sorry don't cut it, this hurts!"

Pexwrith replied angrily.

Candace wasn't sure how to react to this. She had a response, but she

was afraid it might make things worse.

"What I meant to say was, I'm sorry the cut wasn't DEEPER," she

replied.

The Alion leapt to his feet and got in her face, "Oh, I see how it

is! Maybe I should cut you and see how YOU like it!"

Candace grabbed his clawed hand and held it in his face, "With these

butterknives? These pretty little nails couldn't cut a sausage!"

"I don't even know what a 'sausage' is, but I can certainly make you

one!"

"One's not very many, I'd rather have like, five or six, I mean,

they're not that big..."

"Oh, you want me to make you a lot of sausages? Well, I suppose I

could carve that many out of you..."

"You should carve 'em outta yo' face!"

"I should carve them out of YOUR face!"

"Where's a pig when you need one?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Who?"

"What?"

"Where?"

"When?"

"Why?"

"How?"

"I don't know."

"What're we talking about?" Candace asked.

"I just said I don't know."

"But we were talking about something else."

"No we weren't-wait-were we?"

"No we weren't talking about no not talking."

"What?"

"It makes sense. Think about it."

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does, you just have to not think."

"What the-?"

"So, what were we talking about?"

"Where are you from?"

"Earth, in the Sol system."

"What's your name?"

"Candace Flynn."

"Candace Flynn, it appears that the people of Earth have a very warped

sense of logic, or something."

"Or something."

"Trag."

Girl and Alion stared at each other weirdly, seemingly out of things

to say.

"What?" Candace asked.

"What?" Pexwrith retorted.

"Huh?" Candace replied.

Pexwrith grinned, "All right, I'm tired of talking to you you little

weirdo, I'm gonna give this translator to someone else. Maybe they can

penetrate your infernal brain."

"Only someone with an infernal brain can recognize someone with an

infernal brain, brainiac!"

"Did you just like, compliment me and insult me in the same sentence?"

"Trag."

"I gotta get these headphones off before you melt my brain. Here..."

Pexwrith handed the headphones to one of the other Alions.

"Uh... hi?" Candace said.

Candace spent some time chatting with both the other Alions. She was

quickly learning that her response to Pexwrith's apparent anger, in spite of

her initial concerns, had been dead on. It seemed that Alions loved teasing

each other every opportunity they got. The other two Alions insulted her at

least thirty times each, and she slapped at least as many back in their faces.

And none of them meant a single word of it.

Pretty soon she, Pexwrith and the other two Alions were all laying

back on the ground, chilling like old buds. One of them went and got more

communicators so they would all be able to talk at once. Candace told them a

lot about Earth, and they asked if she was heading for her initiation. When

she confirmed that, they started telling her horror stories about how painful

it was and about how they would make her eat poisonous sticker plants and how

they twisted your arms out of their sockets if you spoke during "The

Assimilation." Candace was starting to get nervous about the whole thing

until a rather battered Xosizi and the guy he was wrestling with came and

plopped down next to them.

"Then, they slather you in boiling oil to toughen your skin for

battle," one of the Alions said in an intense voice.

"S-seriously?" Candace stammered.

"Trag, Candace," Xosizi interjected, "Then you have to take an acid

bath to prove that you're tough enough to be a warrior. It'll probably burn

your clothes right off you. I tried to tell you not to get too attached to

them..."

"They throw the ones who die in the bath out in the street so Alions

can eat their bodies," the wrestling Alion added after grabbing a

communicator.

The fact that Xosizi was joining the "scare Candace" party confirmed

to her that the Alions were, in fact, lying. She heaved a mental sigh of

relief.

"When they initiate you into a fraternity or a sorority on Earth, they

make you eat a raw onion," Candace said ominously.

"What's that?" Xosizi asked.

"An evil vegetable. It's smell is so strong that it burns your eyes

and makes all the water drain out of them."

"ALL the water?" an Alion asked.

"ALL of it. Most people go blind because they can't reconstitute

their eyeballs fast enough."

"Whoa," the Alions breathed.

"But that's not the worst part. When you bite into the onion, it's

super-acidic juice squirts into your mouth and starts burning into your flesh,

then, when you swallow it, it incinerates your organs all the way down to your

stomach... and that's just the first bite."

"What happens after that?" Pexwrith asked.

"You try to eat the onion as fast as you can so you can get an antacid

before the onion burns through your stomach. Most people can't finish fast

enough because of the onion's awful taste, and their stomachs usually burst,

which sends acid throughout their entire bodies and causes them to die a slow,

painful death as their internal organs are dissolved. I watched a

guy writhing on the floor in agony after an onion melted his stomach. I

remember watching the juice from his insides leaking out of a hole the acid

had burned through his skin. That poor guy suffered for four whole days

before that acid had consumed enough of his insides to kill him. By that time

even his BONES had dissolved. All that was left of him was this bag of juicy

withered skin with holes all over it."

"Wow," an Alion said in awe.

"Gruesome," another agreed.

"Me now, I ate an onion too, but I was able to force it down fast

enough, so I got an antacid and lived."

"Impressive," Xosizi acknowledged.

"Yes, yes it was," Candace replied.

"No, I meant that big old lie you just told us," Xosizi growled.

"What lie? I know not of what you speak," Candace said innocently.

"He's right, you're lying!" Pexwrith exclaimed.

"So were all of you!" Candace retorted.

"Well... yeah... so?" Pexwrith shot back.

The group talked for hours before finally turning in for the night.

Before they went to bed, Pexwrith told Candace and Xosizi that he had called

an aircraft to come pick him up in the morning, since it would be hard for him

to travel wounded. He told them it was going to the same town they were, and

offered them a ride, which they accepted.

As the two of them laid down, Candace spoke to Xosizi.

"Alions like messing with each other," she observed.

"Trag. That's... probably one of the most prevalent traits in our

culture. That's why I like having you around. I can actually have a serious

conversation with you."

"Are Alions ever serious?"

"Sure... but hardly ever in social situations."

"Ah..."

"Just remember Candace... if someone insults you on Tzilidai, don't

ever walk away without insulting him back... you'll ruin his fun. And also...

remember that if you think someone is lying to you, particularly if what

they're saying scares you, then they probably are, no, they ALWAYS, are."

"Cool."

"Is referring to a relatively low temperature a slang term on Earth?"

"Yes, yes it is."

"What does it mean?"

"Nobody knows, but they say it all the time."

Xosizi nodded his head, "Cool," he replied.

_Continued in The Picture: Part 3-The Training_


	7. Chapter 7: A Summary of Chapters 1-4

Chapter 7: A Summary of Chapters 1-4

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a summary of the first four chapters of _The Vengeance_

I have included for those who get too bored reading them. A word of warning:

This summary is just that-a summary. It only includes the most critical events

of the first four chapters. It will tell you enough that you will be able to get

the gist of what's happening in chapters 5 and 6 and why-but there will be

some less-vital details that will leave you scratching your head. If you really

can't endure the first four chapters, though, then reading this summary is far

better than not reading the rest of the story. Here it is:

So, it turns out that Phineas had contracted with an alien race called the

Tkpxzv to build weapons, contacting them by using Doofenshmirtz's SETI device.

His island fortress was designed to show off his skills to them, and also to lure

Candace into his trap. After the battle, he, Isabella, and Candace, as his captive,

blast off into space on a Tkpxzv star ship.

Candace is rescued by a ferocious alien race called the Alions who are

at war with the Tkpxzv. They take her to a planet called Trisaria that is

populated by small dinosaurs who look a lot like her and who practically worship

her because of an ancient legend. The dinosaurs are known as the Candasaurs.

Ferb and Perry the Platypus build a rocket to chase after Phineas and

rescue Candace. Unbeknownst to them, Stacy stows away on the rocket. Ferb

soon contacts the ship Phineas is on, but by then the Alions have already taken

Candace. Phineas and Ferb both set out for the Epsilon Eridani star system (where

Trisaria is) to try and get to her before the other one does.

Phineas receives orders from the local Tkpxzv Governor, who resides in the

Sirius star system, to build a creation to help them conquer the planet of Trisaria,

where Candace is at. Chapter 5 begins with Phineas and Isabella testing the

creation, and with Candace heading toward the Candasaur capitol building to meet

their President. The Candasaurs are hoping she will somehow help them defeat

the invading Tkpxzv, who already control most of the planet.

That's it. You may now begin reading _The Vengeance_ from chapter 5.


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